'We hope for players' understanding': BWF secy general Lund on India Open

NEW DELHI: The India Open tournament has come under scathing criticism since of hazardous pollution over recent years.

What happened

Danish players like Anders Antonsen and Mia Blichfeldt have not been afraid to voice their reservations over the years. Antonsen, in fact, had willingly paid a hefty fine by giving the last three editions a miss. Even with a shift to February — only for the 2027 season, Antonsen, who's part of the Worlds, had lately stated that he's still unsure of his participation. Bearing in mind the greater interest of the sport in mind, Lund hopes to obtain players' backing. "Although coming here in Delhi now, it's obviously less. So you can look at all of these options and right now it hasn't been feasible due to domestic, local, to actually move it totally around in the calendar. But it's something we're looking at, but we have actually looked into the scheduling that has been improved and will be improved further down the years. (.). Some players may not feel it's enough, but we just obviously hope for the players' understanding that we live in a world where everything cannot just be set up. But we hope for their backing and continuous backing since obviously this is a super notable tournament, super significant market, not only World Championships, but additionally the World Tour tournament that we continue to present here in India at the particularly highest level."

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around ' We hope for players' understanding' : BWF secy general Lund on India Open point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.