The badminton squad at the World University Games experienced a bitter-sweet moment on Sunday in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
India’s medal was confirmed after it edged out Malaysia 3-2 in what a hard-fought quarter-finals encounter. This was also India’s first medal at the ongoing edition of the FISU World University Games and incidentally, the country’s first ever medal at the games since badminton was introduced in 2007.
Very quickly, however, the news of joy turned into despair for six Indian shutters Rohan Kumar, Viraj Vilas, Darshan Pramod, Abhinash Mohanty, Aditi Bhatt, and Alisha Khan, who were kept away from the podium ceremony and were denied their bronze medals.
The reason for this was negligence on the part of Indian managers at the games who had omitted these names ahead of the squad’s opening match against Macau.
Owing to this reason, not only were they deemed ineligible to play the mixed team fixtures, they were also denied bronze medals and certificates.
And now, following player escalations on social media and media reports, the wrong appears to have be fixed.
As per reports, AIU officials have now confirmed that after negotiations with FISU (the international body for university sports), all the 12 members will receive medals and certificates in keeping with the norm.
While the bitter pill of not having played will be a tough one to swallow for these six players, news that the medals will now be awarded to them comes as balm of sorts to sooth the pain.
India’s presence at the 2025 World University Games has been marred by mismanagement and negligence on the part of Indian officials with multiple athlete across sporting disciplines alleging that they were denied an opportunity to participate owing to their names not appearing ahead of their events.
These developments have been a major source of embarrassment for the Indian sporting frittering and has dampened the morale of athletes at large.
In the aftermath, the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has suspended its joint secretary Baljit Singh Sekhon and instituted a three-member inquiry panel to investigate the “mismanagement” that led to selected athletes missing participation in the ongoing World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
