The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has been caught in another selection controversy after a badminton player accused the officials of trying to sabotage their careers.AdvertisementOn a day when the contingent should be celebrating winning a bronze medal in mixed team competitions, Alisha Khan, who is part of the squad at the ongoing World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany has said that the officials deliberately omitted six of the 12 chosen players from team competitions.India lost to Chinese Taipei in the semifinals to finish in the bronze medal. The Indian team beat Macau, USA in the round of 16 and Malaysia in the quarterfinals to enter the medal round.Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Saneeth Dayanand, Vaishnavi Khadkekar, Tasnim Mir, Devika Sihag and Varshini Viswanath Sri were fielded in the mixed team event.Others including Alisha, Rohan Kumar, Aditi Bhatt and few others were not named as part of the full squad.“At the manager’s meeting on 16th July, they were given a simple task: tick 12 names from the nomination list. They only submitted 6, forgetting the rest. AS per FISU rules, 12 players are allowed – we were all eligible. We traveled, we trained, we sacrificed, and yet we were denied the chance to even participate,” Alisha wrote on her instagram page.“The 6 who got to play gave their best – and won bronze. But only they will now receive podium honors, merit certificates, government jobs, cash awards, and recognition. The rest of us will return empty handed – not because of lack of effort, but because of a careless blunder by the officials. This is not just mismanagement – it’s career sabotage. We demand answers. We demand accountability,” she added.“This is not just mismanagement, it’s career sabotage. We demand answers, accountability, and that our voices be heard. We didn’t lose a match, we lost our right to even participate,” wrote Alisha Khan, one of the players left out, on Instagram.However, the head of the Indian delegation Baljeet Singh, said as per his information the coaches wanted to name a strong team and the decision has been proved right as the team won a historic bronze medal. However, he has assured that a report has been sought from the team management.“It is unfortunate that we are talking about a controversy when we should be really talking about our medal. However, the AIU has asked for a detailed report from the management. We have also asked all the players to write to us about what they think went wrong and we will take action after going through them,” Singh told The Tribune from Germany on Monday.
Shuttler accuses officials of omitting team names, varsity body seeks report
