Indian badminton stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen had brought glory to the country by winning the Hilo Open title on Sunday (November 1). In this tournament held in Germany, Sindhu won the women's singles title, while Lakshya became the champion in men's singles. Sindhu and Lakshya won these titles despite fighting financial problems. In fact, even before the start of the Europe tour, the Indian players were told that there would be no government help for this tour. After this the players played 4-4 tournaments at their own expense.
The European Tour began with the Arctic Open in Finland on 6 October. Just a few days before the start of this tournament, BAI informed the players on WhatsApp that funding has been stopped. They were informed that accommodation arrangements would be made but the remaining expenses would have to be borne by themselves.
After the Arctic Open, hotel stay arrangements were also not made for the Denmark Open, French Open and Hylo Open. Players spent money from their own pockets for travel, food and hotel stays. Due to financial constraints, some players withdrew their names from other tournaments except Arctic Open. Some players could not take their personal coaches along.
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Sindhu had to take help from OGQ
Double Olympic medalist Sindhu expressed surprise at the stoppage of funding. She told the English newspaper Indian Express, 'When I came to know about this, I was a little surprised. I wondered why funding was not available. I had never faced such a situation before.
Sindhu further said, 'At that time I could not have decided that if funding was not available then I would not participate in the tournament. My priority was to participate in the tournament. I wanted to concentrate on sports and matches. Wanted to continuously improve her performance. Whatever may have been the reason, not getting funding was surprising. I arranged some expenses myself. My partner organization Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) also helped.
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Why was funding for players stopped?
It is feared that funding has been stopped after the poor performance of the badminton team in the Asian Games. However, an official of Sports Authority of India (SAI) has denied this. The SAI official told the newspaper that the necessary paperwork was not completed on time.