Kidambi Srikanth defended the India Open conditions, despite the tournament receiving criticism from the likes of Vaishali Rameshbabu. Responding to Mia Blichfeldt’s criticism, Srikanth revealed his own experience in Denmark. Blichfeldt had stated that player conditions in the India Open were poor,
Anders Antonsen withdrew from the tournament, and blamed Delhi’s pollution. He was also fined USD 5,000 for pulling out.
Speaking to reporters after his opening round win, Srikanth said, “I frankly haven’t really read about what she (Mia) said. With my experience, I don’t really see… I think the conditions are fine. I don’t think any bad things are happening.”
“From my own experience, back in 2016-17, I had to wait for an hour in between my match in Denmark because the light went out. (HS) Prannoy was telling me he had to play one set on one day and the second set on the following day. These things do happen. It’s just that nobody does it purposely.
“Every country wants to host properly. All these things happen very rarely. I don’t know why everyone is complaining about all these,” he added.
Also, the tournament was shifted from the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall to the much larger Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Commenting on playing conditions in other countries, he said, “I don’t know. Every country has its own conditions. If you go to Singapore, there will be a lot of drift. If you go to Malaysia, there will be less drift. Indonesia, they have renovated the stadiums, but earlier, it used to be compact and really fast.”
“I am just very happy to be playing here again.”
Meanwhile, BAI have also rejected Blichfeldt’s claims. BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra pointed out that Blichfeldt’s comments were about playing conditions and not a criticism of the tournament.
