A Saina fan's plea to India's badminton authorities

Dear Badminton Authority of India and PBL organizers,

As someone who watches badminton even if it comes packaged as “bad”minton, (whoever thought of that horrible marketing gimmick) I have followed the PBL since it began. Barring the sleazy marketing, the event sounded great. Getting to watch Lee Chong Wei play a few miles away from home? C'mon. Watch Saina take on Sindhu? Interesting. Watch Junior World No.1 Sameer Verma take on the big boys? Classic David vs Goliath. The format as well sounded cool, especially the trump match, although no one including your media team got it for the first few days.

As the match progressed, Saina clearly showed terrible signs of discomfort. I could not help but feel this searing anger in the pit of my stomach as I watched her hobble across the court point-after-point. An unheralded opponent, who on a normal day would have failed to make five full points, was taking her apart with not-so-subtle drops as Saina stood helplessly rooted to center position and could only watch. I as well could only sit and watch helplessly. It was turning into a horror-show. I had no choice but to switch off the TV.

However, multiple questions started floating in once I saved myself from watching that travesty unfold, chief of which was this: Why did Saina play that match? Din't she know she was horribly unfit? To anyone who had the good fortune of missing it, imagine M S Dhoni being picked to play tomorrow when he cannot run, and can only make runs by trying to whack the ball for a six or four; and losing the match as a result to Ireland.

I understand she is a free-willed professional and probably took the decision herself. But in a country where sports are run by khadi-clad old men sitting far away from the action, we can almost surmise what else went into this decision.

I also understand that the game needs its talisman and that without her the event would not have had the success it has garnered. But at what expense? At the risk of injury to the player who brought our country Olympic laurels?

Why was a player, who hasn’t for days trained, in her own admission, asked to or allowed to play a so-called “International Level” tournament?

With this year being an Olympic year, asking your biggest medal hope to play despite an injury in a glitzy league is the worst idea of a preparatory event. Apart from Saina, most of the Indians are nursing injuries from the last season, and the league is most certainly hampering their recovery.

It's not just the timing, however, that seems a victim of the marketing machine that is slowly eating its way through the sport.

The mega event began with a thrilling encounter between the Mumbai Rockets and Awadhe Warriors, which saw only five Indians while nine foreigners played for both teams. The plot seemed to have blatant holes right from the start. The budding Indian shuttlers, whom the event was supposed to promote, were found warming the benches.

But are these reasons enough for the grand league?

Most importantly, with the Olympics just around the corner, a billion hopes rest on the young shoulders of the Sainas and the Sindhus and the Srikanths. While we have learned that the sports administrators of this nation cannot be expected to nurture hope, we beg you to at least not destroy hopes of those few medals we yearn for. If you will not aid them, we understand. At least, leave them alone.