ENOUGH was enough for Nagpur District Badminton Association (NDBA) as it took the harsh decision on many erring players banning them from taking part in the Nagpur District Amateur Summer Badminton Tournament that gets underway at Subhedar Hall from May 2. NDBA has pardoned players in the past for mistakes of playing in unauthorised tournaments but with players not paying any heed, it thought of acting tough. “We have been going soft on the players taking part in unrecognised or unauthorised events until now letting them of with a warning. We have urged them not to play in such events a hundred times. But now, towing the Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) guidelines, we have decided to take stern action against the players who have defaulted. The decision to ban players was taken by Executive Members and Tournament Committee of NDBA. This is for the first time that we are banning players,” said NDBA Secretary Mangesh Kashikar while explaining his side to ‘The Hitavada’.

 

“The players used to give silly reasons like they did not know that the tournament in question was an unauthorised or not. Some reasoned that they were having financial concerns and played for prize money. They would tender apology and we used to accept those and move forward. In the meeting, we though enough was enough and that we need to take strict action as to curb these irregularities on part of the defaulting shuttlers,” Kashikar added. The NDBA in its notice has revealed names of 39 players for defaulting. While 16 players have been banned for taking part in unauthorised events, a whopping 23 players have been disqualified for not being amateurs having participated in authorised tournaments.

 

“We found 16 players taking part in non-recognised tournaments while the next set of players was banned for not being amateur. Though they participated in the recognised events, many players reached quarter-finals and above. We do not consider players reaching last-eight in any tourney to be an amateur. Those who failed to reach QF in these tourney are eligible,” Kashikar reasoned. However, there is a reprieve for doubles players who, if not banned, can compete with partnering another player, the committee has said. While most of the players in the second list reached quarter-finals of the authorised event Khasdar Krida Mahotsav, two made it to the final. One player in the set, participated in the Maharashtra International Challenge Meet. They are all considered amateurs as per BAI guidelines.