Government reprieve for Karnataka Badminton Association

BENGALURU: The

Karnataka Badminton Association

heaved a sigh of relief on Sunday after the state government made it clear that it was not keen on using the sports facility for its coronavirus operations.


Captain Manivannan, secretary, information and public relations, told

KBA

officials that if the association was not interested, "there ends the matter".

Manivannan was replying to an email from KBA, which listed several reasons for the association’s inability to part with the facility for virus-related work.

The KBA mail had stated that neither had it sent any official communication nor had any of its authorised representatives approached the government with the offer.

In reply, Manivannan said: "I am equally surprised by the letter. We did not come to your place. Your own office-bearer came to our office and offered the facility voluntarily."

However, KBA alleged that it was the handiwork of someone working against the interests of the association. "We suspect someone has played mischief in this regard. We request you to take suitable action against the person who has approached you... with a false claim."

Manivannan also clarified that there was no intention to convert KBA into a quarantine facility, as had been mentioned in the association's email. "We don't need that for a quarantine facility. Our department does not deal with quarantine issues. We wanted to use it as a logistics facility, that too, if you offer it voluntarily," he said.

As a damage-control measure, the association officials had even planned to meet Manivannan, chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar and deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan on Monday. "Now we don't have to do that. We are thankful to the government for having heard us out. We had also wanted to donate around Rs 4 lakh, collected from our members, to the CM's relief fund. We will do that at a later date," KBA secretary

P Rajesh

told TOI.

In its email, the KBA cited renovation of the facility as a major reason for its decision and also pointed to six of its academy players from other states lodged at its premises.

The email also said that the government's move could adversely affect the sporting careers of the state players who use the facility. "Many of our players from all age groups train at the KBA. It is also a training centre for the junior National team preparing for international tournaments," it said.

The KBA message also highlighted the time lost because of the lockdown and said it had just half a year left to complete the year's schedule.