A social media post comparing the prize money for state champions in Karnataka and Kerala have resulted in a two-year suspension for Kerala men’s doubles state champion NG Balasubamannian after the state federation insisted that his post showed the body in bad light. Later on Thursday, the association withdrew the suspension.
Soon after being crowned the state champion, Balasubramannian had pointed out how the Kerala champions do not get any prize money. The below post has since been deleted.
The Kerala Badminton Association had then issued a show cause notice to Balasubramannian on October 16 explaining that the state championship was a selection tournament for the National Championship and the federation had never declared that it would carry any prize money.
The notice had also asked the player to respond within 14 days.
Unsatisfied with the response, the Federation on Tuesday decided to suspend him for two years starting from Nov 4, 2018 and debarred him from participating in any district, state or national level tournaments.
However, fellow players and some officials insist that the player has fallen foul with some of the officials in Kerala and this is the second time he has been suspended.
Earlier, Balasubramannian was suspended about five years back for playing a couple of unauthorised outdoor tournaments as he needed money to fund his national level tournaments. The suspension was later lifted following an apology.
Scroll.in tried to contact the federation officials to ask the reasons behind such a harsh sanction but did not get a response. We will update the story when the officials respond.
It is learnt that the player has now been called for a meeting by the federation later on Thursday.