Decision to withdraw from Games unfair: Ali

KARACHI: Top seed Wajid Ali has expressed his disappointment at the Pakistan Badminton Federation’s (PBF) decision to withdraw from the 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games badminton events as he prepared to defend his National Championship crown from June 27.

Ali said that the Pakistan Sports Board’s (PSB) decision to pull out the badminton squad from the Games strengthened the notion that the government was unwilling to promote the sport. He pointed out that Pakistani shuttlers were performing well in international tournaments – Pakistan’s Rizwan Azam and Kashif Sulehri bagged the doubles title in Maldives while Ali lost in the quarter-final – and thus the PSB’s decision was unfair.

But Ali, who is looking forward to the 53rd National Championships, told The Express Tribune, “I am working very hard for the national championship because it’s the only domestic tournament each year. Sadly, the PSB allots only Rs600,000 as an annual grant for the PBF and the federation can only organise one event from such a meager amount.”

Published in the Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2010.