Sindhu, unknown Garg in fray for BWF athletes’ commission

Team Udayavani, Apr 11, 2017, 12:11 PM IST

New Delhi: Olympic silver-medallist and world No.2 P V Sindhu will be among the nine shuttlers vying for a position in the Badminton World Federation’s Athletes Commission.

The other Indian in fray for the four slots is relatively unknown male shuttler called Nikhar Garg, known more for his anti-establishment voice in the badminton fraternity than for his on-court performances.

Garg’s doubles ranking stood at 374th in January.

Garg’s nomination may have happened after he expressed his desire to contest for a slot in BWF Athletes’ Commission.

The unknown Mumbai shuttler started an online petition in May 2016 urging BWF to grant greater autonomy to the independent players by allowing them to register directly for international tournaments instead of their associations.

The nominations closed on March 27 with six men and three women standing for the BWF Athletes’ Commission elections.

Apart from Sindhu, the list also comprises two former world No.1s in men’s doubles and a former European men’s singles champion.

Following the close of nominations on March 27, three women and six men will stand for elections to the body which represents players within the Badminton World Federation.

The others in fray are Lithuania’s Akville Stapusaityte, Ugandan Edwin Ekiring, Malaysian Koo Kien Keat, Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, Mexico’s Luis Ramon Garrido Esquivel, German Marc Zwiebler and Korea’s Yoo Yeon Seong.

Three persons will be elected to replace outgoing members — Yuhan Tan (Belgium), Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) and Greysia Polii (Indonesia) – who will complete their four-year term in May.

The rule states that at least one male and one female player must be elected. The third person will be the candidate (male or female) with the next highest number of votes.

Additionally, a fourth person -a female – will be elected to finish the term of Tang Yuanting.

The Chinese player, who became a member of the Athletes’ Commission in 2015, has resigned following her retirement from badminton last year, thus leaving a vacancy on the Commission.

Therefore, either the female with the second-highest number of votes or the female with the third-highest number of votes will be elected to serve the remaining two years of Tang’s term.

For the first time, voting by email will take place and this starts on April 26 and ends on May 24 — the date on which players attending the Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast will be able to vote in person at the stadium.