Hyderabad, August 10: The World Badminton Championship beginning here from Monday suffered a huge setback on Sunday when the England team pulled out of the tournament citing security concerns.
The eight-member strong squad, including Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson, flew out of the city early on Sunday morning saying they could be a potential target in the event of a terror attack.
“The decision follows media reports of Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT) terror threat to the championship. Following those reports, Badminton England felt the risk to the safety of the team was one that could not be taken,” said a press release from Badminton England.
The England team pressed the panic button after reports appeared in a section of the media that the World Championship was under threat from LeT and that intelligence officials had also visited the venue, GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium at Gachibowli.
According to sources, the English team held an urgent team meeting after its evening practice session on Saturday and decided to withdraw from the championship.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) made desperate attempts to keep England in the championship.
The England team had earlier pulled out of the India Open citing security concerns.
Speaking to mediamen, BWF chief Thomas Lund said, “Before we could go and meet, they (England) had already made the decision.
It is an unfortunate decision.” According to BWF, there will be no reschedule of the draws. The opponent players will get a walkover.
–Agencies–