Badminton: Transparency is fine but BAI needs to give much more thought to its selection policy

The Badminton Association of India’s attempt to bring in more transparency by using national ranking tournaments as selection trials for big international competitions was largely met with a positive response, but has now ended up raising some pertinent questions.

The idea behind the decision to nominate selection tournaments was not just to reward domestic performances, but also to give the national selectors a chance to see the shuttlers in action. This would provide them other parameters to judge players apart from their rankings.

However, while the intentions may have been noble, BAI hasn’t been able to build a fool-proof system that could leave little space for criticism.

Elite group

The problem started even before BAI on Wednesday announced a 20-member squad (10 men and 10 women) for the Asian Games in August. Out of the 20 spots, 13 were automatic entries, as India’s top shuttlers such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, K Srikanth, and HS Prannoy, had been exempted from playing the two selection tournaments in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

While there is nothing wrong in having an elite group of players who are automatic picks for global events on the basis of consistent performances at the international level, BAI has not stated any criteria for membership into this exclusive club.

The initial list just had 11 names – Saina and Sindhu (women’s singles); Srikanth, HS Prannoy, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma (men’s singles); Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles); Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (men’s and mixed doubles); Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy (women’s and mixed doubles); and Pranaav Jerry Chopra (mixed doubles).

However, the names of men’s doubles pair Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy were later added to this elite group after they protested their initial exclusion, saying they were the current national champions.

BAI could have avoided this ignominy had it set criteria for players to be added to the elite group, such as a minimum world/national ranking, or tournament wins, or performance over a stipulated period.

The other problem started when the selection committee decided to pick six singles players and just two doubles pairs in the 10-member women’s team for the Asian Games.

The decision to pick only two doubles pairs ended up attracting allegations of favouritism from doubles player Aparna Balan, who felt that she and her partner Sruthi KP were overlooked to accommodate two more singles players.

The selectors picked Rutaparna Panda and Arathi Sara Sunil, who won the women’s doubles title in Bengaluru and were semi-finalists in Hyderabad, but ignored Aparna and Sruthi KP, who won in Hyderabad and reached the semis in Bengaluru.

Both pairs thereby ended up with the same number of points from the two selection tournaments.

Unclear policy

Even here, BAI seems unsure of its selection policy. In a press release announcing the Asian Games team, BAI President Himanta Biswa Sarma was quoted as saying that if there was a tie in terms of points of two players/pairs, their head-to-head performances were considered.

Rutaparna/Arathi had beaten Aparna/Sruthi in Bengaluru, so that should have made their selection clear. However, after Aparna tweeted against her exclusion from the squad on Thursday, BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania told PTI that Rutaparna and Arathi were picked because “they are a young pair”.

The four women’s singles players picked for the Asian Games squad included the winners of the two selection tournaments – Sai Uttejitha Rao and Ashmita Chaliha – and two semi-finalists in Aakarshi Kashyap and Gayatri Gopichand.

Former national champion Rituparna Das, who had reached the final in Bengaluru, and lost to Uttejitha in the second round in Hyderabad was overlooked only because her total points were not among the top four.

It was Das’s bad luck or the other three girls’ good luck that she ended up meeting the in-form Uttejitha in the second round in Hyderabad. A slightly different draw could have thrown up another scenario.

It is worth noting that Das has been regular in the Indian team and has been a proven performer. The 21-year-old is still making a comeback from injury and her experience could have come in handy in Jakarta.

And this is where a selection system based on performance in one or two tournaments can hurt the team’s cause.

The case of top junior doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad Garaga is a perfect example of being pound-wise and penny-foolish.

One of the leading doubles combinations in the world junior circuit, they were not picked for the Asian junior championship in July because they lost in the quarter-finals of the only selection tournament nominated for the event.

Between that selection tournament last month and the national camp for the Asian junior championship, which started in Bengaluru earlier this week, Dhruv and Krishna went on to reach the finals of both senior ranking tournaments in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, winning one of them.

In any other situation, the pair would have been the first choice on the team sheet. There is talk about disciplinary issues against one of the players but that was not the reason given for dropping them.

Even for the women’s team for the Asian Games, the selectors did not even consider the case of former national champion Ruthvika Shivani, who is widely considered the best Indian player on the circuit after Saina and Sindhu.

Ruthvika has been out of action since injuring her back during the Commonwealth Games but is almost back to full fitness. She is expected to play on the international circuit next month and could have been India’s best bet for the third singles spot.

Even if we look at the women’s doubles draw in Bengaluru, two pairs that had represented India in the Uber Cup in May – Prajakta Sawant/Sanyogita Ghorpade and Poorvisha Ram/Meghana J – were in the same quarter as Rutaparna/Arathi, while Aparna/Sruthi were in the same half. The other half of the draw had journeywomen and juniors.

Had this been the only selection tournament for the Asiad and two pairs were to be picked, then India would have had to fly a junior pair to Jakarta.

More thought needed

There is no doubt that the decision to bring in transparency in the selection process and giving weightage to the domestic circuit is a welcome move, but BAI would do well to think hard about how it wants to implement this.

Instead of selecting teams based on one or two tournaments, the governing body of the sport in the country would do well to study the structures of the Boxing Federation of India and the National Rifle Association of India to create a robust domestic circuit.

The boxing federation gives weightage to even sparring matches during the national camp, along with performances in national and international competitions, for Asian Games selection. While that can’t happen in badminton, BAI can definitely consider a rational approach of tabulating performances of players in a minimum number of tournaments from the total they play.

The NRAI, on the other hand, considers performances of players in trials and international tournaments to arrive at a ranking system to select the team for major events. Both federations have clearly listed their selection policies on their websites.

BAI also needs to give players performing consistently in domestic tournaments more exposure in BWF World Tour 100 and 300-level events, and take all those performances into account while selecting teams.

Otherwise, in trying to correct one wrong, BAI would end up making another blunder, at the cost of fielding weaker teams for major international events.