[1]Hyderabad/Bengaluru: Incensed by a spur-of-themoment change in the home side’s squad, the Krrish Delhi Smashers threatened to stage a walkout ahead of their scheduled Indian Badminton League tie against the Banga Beats in Bengaluru on Sunday.
The Smashers filed a protest in the form of a letter — signed by all the players of the side as well as the coach and manager— to the IBL Governing Council after the Banga Beats replaced Hu Yun with the hitherto unsold Jan O. Jorgensen.
The Bengaluru-based team sprang a surprise on Sunday by replacing Yun, their second singles player, with world no. 9 Jorgensen for the rest of the league.
After the Hong Kong shuttler’s persistent back injury aggravated during the team’s disastrous outing on Friday against Pune Pistons, the Beats opted to replace him with the 25-year-old who was in the reserve pool for a base price of $35,000.
In the letter, a copy of which is in the possession of this newspaper, Delhi said: “This is to inform you that the Delhi Smashers team objects the replacement of player from Banga Beats five mins before handing over the tie-sheet. Our team was not informed about the change at all. We would stage a walkout if the replacement stays (sic).” Eventually, Delhi agreed to play under protest after the Banga Beats fielded Arvind Bhat for the second men’s singles match.
With a raging controversy brewing in the background, it was a test of character more than skill for Parupalli Kashyap in their must-win tie against the Smashers at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.
Contesting the first singles in a crunch contest, Kashyap was in sublime form as he combined his cross-court game and deceptive drop shots with equal finesse to romp home 21-15, 21-11 against B. Sai Praneeth.
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