The Karnataka High Court on July 21st issued a stay order, suspending the operation of circulars issued by Badminton Association of India (BAI) on April 10, 2023, and July 5, 2023. The court also allowed BAI registered players to participate in GPBL 2023 and ordered BAI to not take any action against players, coaches, technical staff, and support staff.
The Grand Prix Badminton League (GPBL) had received over 450 registrations including 56 International players to be included in the Players’ Roster for the upcoming GPBL Season 2 to be held next month. Owing to the circulars issued by BAI, many top players were sceptical of participating.
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Hitherto, Bitsport had approached BAI on over 40 occasions during the last one year seeking clarity on status of GPBL via e-mails, registered letters, phone calls and mobile messages. However, there was no reply.
“When the players started calling us about impact on them due to BAI circulars and with just about a month to go for the event, we had no other option but to approach the court,” said Prashanth Reddy, League Commissioner, GPBL.
The Karnataka High Court’s ruling recognized the fundamental rights of badminton players, as enshrined in Article 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India. The Honourable Court cited a precedent set by the order dated August 24, 2017, issued by the Delhi High Court in W.P.(C) 3469/2017 and CM No. 15209/2017, which upheld the right of players to participate in private tournaments.
“Although we are happy about the ruling in our favour as it benefits players, we are still reaching out to BAI to work together to promote Badminton in the country. While BAI is the governing body for Badminton, they primarily focus on selecting players to represent India. This leaves out tens of thousands of aspiring Badminton players to support themselves when they cannot make it into the Indian team. It is important to note that BAI only supports players with free training, and travel if they make it to the Indian team.
“We want to promote the sport as well as help the players financially so that they are able to pursue their career. In fact, we have announced a minimum guarantee for the players who are in the final roster, irrespective of them getting picked by the franchises,” added Prashanth.
The first season saw the top players from Karnataka with the teams mentored by the who-is-who of Indian badminton including PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Ashwini Ponappa, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, HS Prannoy, Chirag Shetty and Jwala Gutta. With the participation of the National and International players, the second season promises to be an exciting affair.
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