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Journalism of Courage
Although the Badminton Association of India (BAI) is yet to officially announce the teams for the European circuit — which comprises the German Open, the All-England Open and the Swiss Open — and the Senior ABC Championship, India’s No 2 shuttler Trupti Murgunde has been dropped for the three events in Europe, but will be travelling to Malaysia for the April 10-15 ABC event. The European circuit kicks off from February 27.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand said the selectors had made the right move by dropping the out-of-form Trupti for the European circuit but added that she will be on the flight to Malaysia. “It’s a question of whether you want to protect a player’s ranking or a player’s game,” Gopichand said when asked why the country’s second-best shuttler did not feature in the Europe-bound squad.
Trupti, however, said the reason given to her by the Federation was that she did not make herself available for the camp that was initially supposed to get underway today, but since many shuttlers are playing in Dehradun it will now start only on February 7 at Hyderabad.
Interestingly, Trupti seemed surprised when told about the camp being deferred by two days. “I didn’t know about it. Anyway there’s no point joining the camp with the National Games around. It’ll be like reaching Hyderabad and leaving immediately for Guwahati,” she said.
Asked if she agreed with the selectors that she needs to train back home, Trupti said: “I’ve been suffering from a tooth problem for the last 2-3 months which has been affecting my game on and off. That was the case during the nationals as well and I informed the coach about it after the tournament got over. In fact I didn’t even expect to make the semis. I will have to undergo a minor surgery in the next few days and only after that will I be able to plan my schedule. As of now I’m not even sure of playing the National Games.”
