The Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) has now urged the Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Himanta Biswa Sarma for resumption of badminton activities in the State.
The MBA president Arun Lakhani has handed over the letter to BAI chief Sarma during their meeting in Nagpur on Sunday. Sarma was on a personal visit to Orange City.
A couple of weeks ago, MBA president Lakhani and MBA secretary (tournaments) Mangesh Kashikar had met state sports minister Sunil Kedar and had requested him to resume badminton activities in the State.
Lakhani, who is also the vice-president of BAI, has requested Sarma to help restart badminton activities in Maharashtra.
Sarma, who is a senior minister in Assam Government, has promised to speak to Aaditya Thackeray, state minister and son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, soon and ensure badminton practice restart in all the districts of Maharashtra in a few days time.
Couple of districts of Maharashtra including Pune and Aurangabad have already allowed all the indoor sports including badminton in their respective areas.
However, the majority of the districts in Maharashtra including Nagpur and Mumbai are still denied entry to badminton halls.
“The Maharashtra Government has already initiated the unlock procedure and issued several directives in resuming various activities in our state. While commercial establishments and restaurants have opened, however the indoor sports are yet to find relief. We have requested the sports minister and chief minister to consider our appeal for resumption of badminton. You can understand the agony and restlessness of thousands of badminton players as well as hundreds of badminton coaches in our state who have been sitting idle for the last seven months,†said the letter.
“Badminton is a non-contact sport and as such badminton activities have started on a full fledged scale in all parts of the country except in our state. Also, we assure you that if you give us permission to resume our activities, we will strictly follow SOPs laid down by Maharashtra Olympic Association and Government of Maharashtra,†said Lakhani in a letter.
“The coaches all over the state are suffering very severely as they have no income to survive. Similarly, many best players from our state have been left with no choice than to go to other states for practice and training thereby causing a big loss to our state,†added the letter.
Last month, more than 200 coaches of Maharashtra came together and formed a group in their bid to reopen the badminton activities.
Courtesy:Â orangecitysports.com