The India Open badminton tournament at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here was meant to be a showcase event, a test run for the prestigious World Championships in August 2026. It was supposed to exhibit India’s facilities and preparedness to host marquee global events.
But it ended up making news for the wrong reasons. Instead of women’s singles champ An Se-Young and men’s winner Lin Chun-Yi making headlines, some stray birds and a monkey ended up on the front pages of most newspapers. From bird droppings halting play and a monkey straying into the stands to the withdrawal of Danish shuttler and World No. 3 Anders Antonsen due to Delhi’s hazardous air pollution, the tournament was marred by some bizarre and embarrassing incidents, raising serious questions about India’s readiness to host global events.
Trouble began when Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt complained of “dirty courts, cold conditions and bird poop in the warm-up courts.” Then, the men’s singles match between home favourite HS Prannoy and Singapore’s former world champion Loh Kean Yew was halted twice as bird droppings fell on the court. On Friday, Loh posted images on social media, highlighting the presence of pigeons and the courts splattered with bird droppings. His tongue-in-cheek captions, “Please don’t poop on me” and “Seems freshly made”, added to the organisers’ embarrassment. On Saturday, particles from a bird nest fell on the court, halting play during the women’s doubles semi-final between China’s Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning and South Korea’s Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) went into damage-control mode with Secretary General Sanjay Mishra first refuting all allegations, saying Mia had “issues with dust and allergies.” Then, a couple of days later, in an interview, he said that “95 percent of things were good” and that the “issues were only five per cent.”
The world body BWF acknowledged the problems in “cleanness, hygiene and animal control,” but confirmed that Delhi would retain hosting rights for the World Championships. In a statement, BWF said: “Our assessments confirm that the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex represents a significant upgrade from KD Jadhav Stadium, offering improved infrastructure.”
However, it is clear that at a time when India is looking to host more global events and harbours the larger ambition of hosting the 2036 Olympics Games, it will require far more than upgrading stadiums and modern infrastructure. But for this, those in power must first acknowledge the problems, rather than dismiss it.
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