New Delhi: Six badminton players from India were barred from taking part in the World University Games (WUG) due to an administrative lapse and now months later, they are still waiting for their participation certificates. The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) had promised to give them these certificates as a corrective step. A 12-member Indian badminton team was selected for the WUG held in Germany, but only six players were able to attend the manager’s meeting. The remaining half of the players remained out of the competition despite being present on the spot.

After this AIU formed an inquiry committee and suspended its joint secretary Baljit Singh Sekhon. Six players Satish Kumar Karunakaran, Saneet Dayanand, Tasneem Mir, Varshini Vishwanath Shri, Devika Sihag and Vaishnavi Khadkekar participated in the competition. He won a historic bronze medal in the mixed team event. The players who were dropped (Alisha Khan, Rohan Kumar, Darshan Pujari, Aditi Bhatt, Avinash Mohanty and Viraj Kuwale) were left out of the official records. Due to this, he could not get the benefits to certificates, recognition and international medals.

In January this year, the Sports Ministry issued a show cause notice to AIU. It said that the organization has failed to perform its duties to player development and planning. When AIU general secretary Pankaj Mittal was asked whether the six players had received certificate letters, he told PTI, “There are no cash prizes.” We have not given any cash award to anyone, but they have got their medals.

They are yet to receive the certificates, but we have raised the matter with FISU so we hope everything will be fine. Alisha Khan alleged that repeated attempts to seek clarity from the authorities have gone unanswered. He said, “When we were in Germany, AIU had a zoom meeting with the players in which general secretary Pankaj Mittal was also present. He promised us that on our return to India, we would get the same honours, cash prizes and merit certificates as the other six players.