To prevent bird-poop fiasco at Badminton World Championships, officials deploy anti-pigeon gel and more

While the event is being organised by BAI, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) maintains major stadiums in the capital.

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According to Mishra, the World Championships will be “one of the best”. On Thursday, the BAI secretary, SAI officials, and representatives of the sport’s governing body, the Badminton World Federation (BWF), oversaw preparations at the venue.

Glass gates installed at IG Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. (Pritish Raj)

The World Championships return to India after 17 years. Over 400 players will be seen in action from August 17 to 23. “The India Open was a learning experience for us. We have worked on every issue that came up last time,” Mishra said.

Stadium upgrade

The indoor stadium, originally built for the 1982 Asian Games and renovated for the Commonwealth Games 2010, is undergoing final touches: new seats, better signage, new wooden flooring for courts, a new lighting system, waterproofing of the stadium roof, and landscaping outside.

“The BAI received feedback from TV viewers during the India Open about the need to improve lighting on the courts. BAI has hired experts who work at the Indonesian Open and Indonesia Masters to make sure the lighting is perfect,” Selvaramesh Supramaniam, BWF Events Director (Tournament Operations), said.

The BWF has been visiting the venue regularly since the start of the year. “We visited the stadium in January, February, April, June and then in the last couple of days. A lot of work has been done. We are happy, but we still need to keep checking for the next few days on the cleaning that’s being done,” Supramaniam said.

According to the Sports Ministry, two architects and four engineers from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) have been assigned to monitor the refurbishment of parts of the stadium. “Over 100 skilled workers have been working day in and day out, too. Eighty washrooms have been revamped and practice courts are also being maintained well,” sources in the ministry said.

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Supramaniam said he hasn’t spotted pigeons or monkeys at the stadium yet. “The last three days that I’ve been there, I haven’t seen any pigeons. I don’t know whether that’s because there are a lot of people or the gel is actually doing its job. I have not seen any monkeys, either. From what I heard, they rounded up 60-odd dogs. There are still some, but they are confident they will be able to round them up as well,” he said.

During the India Open, Danish shuttler Mia Blichfeldt was vocal about the unhygienic conditions on practice courts at the KD Jadhav Hall next to the IG Stadium. She had also complained about the air pollution.

“The floors are dirty, there is a lot of dirt on the courts. Also, there are birds flying in the arena, and there is bird poop, too. As a European player, I think I’m more sensitive to all this stuff,” Mia had said. Another Danish participant, Anders Antonsen, had withdrawn from the event, citing air pollution.

Following the criticism, the Sports Ministry had asked SAI to draw up a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to avoid slip-ups in the future.