Badminton England defends pull out decision

Milton Keynes:

Two of the eight member of the English badminton team and their association that returned to England from India last night defended their controversial decision to pull out of the World Badminton Championship being hosted in Hyderabad.

The newspaper reports on Saturday morning said there was a direct threat to the championship that triggered panic in the team and the security arrangements were not up to the mark.

"There was no armed convoy for our buses with minimal security", said England shuttler Nathan Robertson.

Badminton England officials raises their concerns too.

"Other managers were quite concerned as well. They too were talking to their respective embassies", said BE official Ian Moss.

"There was an easy access to the stadium and hotel", said Andy wood, a BE official.

The English Badminton association has been scathing in its criticism of the security arrangements by the Indian police for the WBC. But surprisingly, they have found little support for their decision to with draw on their return.

Their Scottish counterparts and the British media have called it an overreaction. Even the opposition Tory members have said the team should have gone on with normal life as far as possible in the face of a terrorist threat.

The players feel that they were among the few who voiced concerns that were actually shared by most other participating nations.