Danish Star Mia Blichfeldt Blasts Playing Conditions At India Open Badminton: "Unhealthy..."

Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt has slammed the playing conditions at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, which is hosting the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament, and also criticised the pollution levels in the national capital, calling such conditions "unhealthy and unacceptable." The world no. 23 had picked up a stomach infection but managed to fight through the second round before losing 21-13 16-21 8-21 to China's Wang Zhi Yi. "Finally home after a long and stressful week in India. It's 2 years in a row now that I get sick during India Open," Blichfeldt wrote on Instagram.

"It's really hard to accept that many weeks of work and preparing, gets wasted because of bad conditions. It's not fair to anyone that we have to train and play in smog, birds shitting on the courts, and dirt everywhere.

"These conditions are too unhealthy and unacceptable. @bwf.official. I'm happy that I managed the second round, but I'm far from satisfied." The Badminton Association of India (BAI), on its part, said that it faced "logistical challenges" after getting the venue just four days before the event and it is looking for "alternative venues" to host the iconic event.

"As the host and staging authority for the Yonex Sunrise India Open, the Badminton Association of India gains access to the stadium and its infrastructure only four days before the event, which poses significant logistical challenges," BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra said in a statement on Saturday.

"We are already in discussions with the BWF to explore alternative venues and are actively evaluating the infrastructure options," he added.

Following her loss on Thursday, Blichfeldt told the BWF media team that she had thrown up all night and was barely able to get on the court the