A year after she slammed the organisers at the India Open Super 750 for the pollution and unhealthy playing conditions in New Delhi, Mia Blichfeldt was back in the capital with a 21-19, 21-11 first round win on Tuesday.
The Danish women’s singles shuttler was impressed by the size of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, where the 2026 India Open is being held after being moved out of the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium, but insisted that the conditions were still subpar.
“The arena itself is huge and I think it’s really great for major events like this, especially World Championships,” said Blichfeldt after her first round win.
“But I really hope that it’s going to be better conditions for the players with the cleaning and the floors and everything still really dirty unfortunately,” she added.
She also reflected on how she fell sick last year during the competition and the precautions she is taking to keep herself fit this time around.
“Last year I made a complaint about the conditions because I think it’s not fair to the players. A lot of us get sick and that means we cannot participate in the tournament the week after,” she said.
“It’s something that needs to be better because it’s not good for the players to be in a hall where there are birds and bird shit on the floor and stuff like that.
“This year I’m only eating in my room actually to try to not get sick,” she added.
Blichfeldt stressed that her concerns regarding the cleanliness aspect remain this year as well along with the freezing Delhi cold.
“To be fair and honest, which I am as a person, I think it can be way better,” she said. “I think the floors are dirty. There is a lot of dirt on the courts. There’s bird shit, there’s birds flying around in the arena.
“For me as a European player, I think maybe I’m more sensitive also with food and bacteria and that kind of stuff. So this time I’m actually trying just to like stay in my room and eating so I don’t get sick. And I think it’s a good test for me also when I come here for World Championships in August, even though I think maybe the conditions are going to be better because it will be in summer so the temperature would be better because right now all the players are also freezing,” she added.
“I’m sure that everyone around in the Indian Association and everyone as a volunteer here do their best. So I’m hoping that it’s going to be even better for World Championships in the summer,” she added.
