Sulehri slams parallel federations

Top badminton player rues lack of international activity.

KARACHI:

Pakistan top doubles player Kashif Sulehri has said that conflict between the two badminton federations in the country has destroyed his chances of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics. The Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) was suspended by the sport’s governing body, meaning the country is barred from participating in any international tournament.

Sulehri believes the conflict between Amir Rokhri – backed by the Pakistan Olympic Association – and Nazar Gondal – by the Pakistan Sports Ministry – has ended all the badminton activity in the country. The players have therefore started to quit the sport since the differences between the two parties are not likely to end anytime soon.

The World Badminton Federation (BWF) suspended the PBF in their annual meeting on March 4, where it was discussed that the parallel bodies, each claiming the leadership of the PBF had failed to fulfill the membership requirements. Therefore, Pakistan will not host any international tournaments and are also not allowed to send any player abroad to participate in one.

Due to the ban, the BWF has been forced to cancel the Pakistan International Challenge Badminton that was scheduled for next month.

“It’s always the players who suffer,” Sulehri told The Express Tribune. “I know my best years are being wasted. My doubles partner Rizwan Azam and I had a chance to qualify for the Olympics last year when we won two championships in Maldives and Syria.

“We improved our BWF rankings to 89 and we planned to participate in international events throughout the year to get into the list of the top 50 doubles pairs but due to the conflict within the PBF, we never got the chance to play in any international events.”

According to Sulehri, the Pakistan International Challenge would have helped him and Azam improve their rankings but now there is no hope of them qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th,  2011.