India shuttler Parupalli Kashyap feels the postponement of India Open — an Olympics qualifying event which was scheduled to be held in Delhi from May 11 — is disheartening.
“It is really upsetting that the Delhi event is postponed. We are obviously helpless but again we do have serious doubts whether anyone cares for the players when they take these decisions,” the 34-year-old Kashyap told Sportstar on Wednesday.
Kashyap, who also dons the role of a mentor to superstar wife Saina Nehwal besides pursuing his own career with a lot of passion, highlighted that the India Open, Malaysian Open and Singapore Open were the last three Olympics qualifying events.
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And now contenders like Saina and Kidambi Srikanth are left with the last two events. “Ideally, our calculations were that if Saina were to make it to the quarters in two of the three, her chances of making the cut for Olympics are very bright,” said Kashyap.
“Now, it has come to two out of two and it is not going to be easy and I strongly believe no one cares about the players getting fair chances of qualifying for the Games.”
“Exactly for this reason, I feel the All England Championship which was held in a bio-bubble earlier this year should also have been treated as a qualifying event,” he added.
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On Saina, the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist said she was nearing full fitness level despite being hit by niggles which are taking longer to heal. “It has been a very tough last two years for her,” he said.
“Definitely, the conditions because of the pandemic are bad but again when IPL and tennis can go on, a way should be found out to ensure the Olympic qualifying events are held on schedule. Now all we can do is to hope at least the Malaysian and the Singapore Opens will be held on schedule,” he concluded.
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