Vijayawada, Jan 8: Finally, the selection of Indian teams to the forthcoming Thomas and Uber Cup preliminaries is over. But not without some glaring shortcomings.The Badminton Authority of India's (BAI) quixotic planning was thoroughly exposed in the process and some decisions have baffled everyone connected with the game more particularly the hapless players.According to the original domestic schedule, the senior Nationals was supposed to be held in January. The authorities postponed the event to February, with the aim of having an intensive 45-day coaching camp at Bangalore in preparation for the all-important Thomas and Uber Cup.The authorities have selected 18 men and 15 women probables for the Bangalore camp, but ironically few among them have found place in the recently released ranking list.Meanwhile, BAI gave the green signal to two prize money tournaments, one at Pune and the other, a Grand Prix tourney at Mumbai, which concluded on Saturday, thus taking the sheen off the seniorNationals and indirectly jeopardising the coaching camp. Now that the Indian teams are selected, the camp, which is supposed to start from January 1, has lost its value.The Indian men and women would have a training camp at Bangalore from January 15 to February 2 and then, the final 10-day training camp at Delhi.Another glaring faux pas is the timing of the senior Nationals at Kochi. The players all over the country, who wish to witness quality international players in action at the New Delhi meet, which concludes on February 20, will find it arduous to report at Kochi on February 22 for the qualifying rounds.
