NEW DELHI: The India Open Super 750 has ceased to be a celebration of world-class badminton. Instead, it has become a daily case study in administrative failure. Not a single day of the marquee BWF World Tour event at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium has passed without controversy. On Saturday, the tournament plummeted to a new low when a women’s doubles semifinal had to be halted after particles and twigs from a bird’s nest fell on the court in between points — an episode that summed up the bizarre, avoidable and embarrassing problems that have come to define this year’s competition.
The incident occurred on Court No. 1 during the semifinal between top-seeded Chinese pair Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning and the sixth-seeded South Korean duo of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee. With Liu preparing to serve at 6-3 in the opening game, debris from above fell down on the playing surface. Liu broke into laughter and pointed towards the chair umpire, more in disbelief than amusement. The Chinese pair walked to their chairs, visibly perplexed and concerned. Lee, too, looked up towards the roof in bewilderment, trying to comprehend how a Super 750 tournament had descended into farce. The chair umpire summoned sweepers to clear the court. The cleaning operation took several minutes. Officials later confirmed that the particles were indeed material from a bird’s nest. They were picked up and disposed of and play eventually resumed. “That a semifinal at a premier BWF event could be interrupted by falling nest debris would be comical if it were not so damning,” a former India shuttler told TOI. “More troubling is that this was not an isolated mishap but, as people have come to see over the past few days, part of a recurring pattern.” Just two days earlier, the pre-quarterfinal between HS Prannoy and Loh Kean Yew had been halted twice after bird droppings fell on the court. That incident triggered widespread criticism of the playing conditions and raised serious questions about the basic readiness of the venue. The warning signs were evident even before the tournament gathered momentum. Danish shuttler Mia Blichfeldt complained about “dirty” and “unhygienic” conditions inside the arena. She later posted a photograph on Instagram, pointedly questioning whether the venue was fit to host the World Championships later this year. Another Danish shuttler world No. 3 Anders Antonsen added to the chorus by questioning the pollution levels in the city and whether it was worth staging a Super 750 tournament under such conditions. “Bird-related disruptions are particularly indefensible. Indoor badminton arenas are supposed to be controlled environments. The presence of nests inside the stadium is not an act of nature beyond human control; it is evidence of neglected infrastructure and lax maintenance,” an ex-India player said. “Such issues do not materialise overnight. They are the product of months, if not years, of oversight failure.”
