Bird flu could claim some unlikely victims -- the Olympic aspirations of India's badminton players.
The Badminton Association of India announced yesterday it was calling off training camps ahead of two key qualifying events for this summer's Olympic Games as a result of a shortage of quality feather shuttlecocks caused by a government ban.
Three months ago India's agriculture ministry barred the import of feathers because of the bird flu menace in Asia. Top shuttles are made with goose feathers, most of them from China and Taiwan.
Since then the association has been unable to buy feather shuttles, chairman V. K. Verma said.
"Abandoning the national squad's training camp ahead of the Thomas and Uber Cup qualifiers is a huge setback," Verma said.
The men's Thomas Cup and women's Uber cup will be played from Feb. 19 to Feb. 24 in Vietnam.
Shuttle manufacturers had offered to ship chemically treated shuttles that passed a bird flu inspection by Hong Kong authorities, but the Indian government was yet to lift the ban.
This shuttle shortage could also affect the Indian Open badminton tournament scheduled for April 1 to April 6 in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
Shuttles can also be made with plastic skirts, but the flight of feather and plastic shuttles is marginally different and most top tournaments are played with feather shuttles. Plastic shuttles are rare in Asia as a result of the lower cost of feathers.
More than 200 people have been killed by bird flu since the virus began devastating poultry stocks in Asia in late 2003.
Bird flu is hard for humans to catch, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. So far, most human cases have been traced to close contact with sick birds. The virus has spread rapidly throughout Asia -- partly because of a lack of awareness.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d