Bangalore, Aug 26 (IANS) The Indian Badminton League (IBL) governing council Monday cleared their stand on the controversy that broke out late Sunday night regarding Banga Beats replacing a player at the 11th hour.
The Krrish Delhi Smashers almost forfeited the tie here against the Beats after the hosts replaced the injured Hu Yun for the second men's singles with Danish Jan O Jorgensen at the last minute.
The Smashers were upset after the governing council allowed the home team to replace Hong Kong's World No.8 with World No.9 O Jorgensen. Their argument was that they were not intimated about the change and such a late replacement cannot be allowed.
Hu Yun was diagnosed with an abdominal swelling forcing them to fly in O Jorgensen from Denmark Sunday morning.
IBL governing council member Vijai Sinha said that according to the rules the Dane could have played the match.
"The rule says that a player can be replaced if found injured. Also, there is this clause that a player can replace another only if his ranking and base price is similar or lower. O Jorgensen's ranking and base price were both lower than Hu Yun so he fits into the category," Sinha, who is also the Badminton Association of India (BAI) general secretary, told IANS.
BAI vice-president T.P.S. Puri said that they got the medical reports of Hu Yun in time for the replacement.
"O Jorgensen could have played the match because Hu Yun was injured. We got his medical reports on time. A replacement is allowed before the tie starts and not after that. We left it to the two teams to decide amongst themselves," IBL governing council member Puri told IANS.
The Delhi team lodged a strong protest and threatened to forfeit the match. But the Banga Beats decided to leave out the Dane and field Arvind Bhat, and Delhi continued with the game. The start of the tie was also delayed by half an hour due to the controversy.
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