New Delhi: Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu He has been stranded in Dubai since February 28 as the airspace in West Asia was closed due to the escalating conflict in the region, and later returned to India. As a result, she had to miss the All England badminton tournament, which starts in Birmingham on Tuesday.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!On Tuesday, Sindhu informed that she may also miss the Yonex Swiss Open, a Super 300 event scheduled to be held in Basel from March 10 to 15 due to reduced flight operations in the Gulf and shortage of tickets on most airlines. The tournament prize money is USD 250,000 (approximately Rs. 2.1 Cr).“Swiss Open is definitely a target. But as I said, all flights are full. I am trying to book myself on one of the flights every day but there are no tickets available. Everything is going through Dubai and that is a challenge. We all know there are risks in taking the Dubai route. Let’s see what happens in the next few days,” Sindhu said during a media interaction facilitated by SAI.“I am looking for options but nothing has come of it so far. I also have to consider my coach (Indonesian Irwansyah Adi Pratama) and his safety.” Sindhu said the Badminton World Federation had waived the $5,000 fine she had been slapped with for missing the All England, acknowledging the unusual circumstances. However, prior to the season involving CWG, there was discussion about her potential loss of ranking points, Asian Games With the World Championships underway due to “extraordinary circumstances”, Sindhu expected an amicable solution.“The BWF has rules for top players to miss Super 1000 or Super 750 matches. If BWF can’t find a valid reason, they will fine the player $5,000. I wrote an email to BWF from Dubai. They understood my situation as this was probably the first time something like this happened and exempted me from the penalty. This was a relief to me.“Regarding the ranking points, they asked me to send a collaborative email detailing my situation. I am waiting for their reply. They will convey the decision within a day,” said Sindhu, who is also a member of the BWF Athletes’ Committee.“I just pray this is the first and last time I go through something like this. It’s going to be hard (to forget). You train so hard and then something completely out of your control stops you from competing in a big event.”
