India's Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth will be able to take part in the Hong Kong Superseries after the visa issue concerning the two shuttlers was resolved.
Hong Kong Badminton Association, the organisers of the Superseries resolved the matter for the Indians, allowing the shuttlers to participate in the tournament. Hong Kong Open will start on Tuesday with the qualifying rounds.
The world No. 47 Kashyap and 16th-ranked Preneeth, along with trainer Swarup, were detained at the Hong Kong airport on Sunday for two hours citing improper visa despite the entire Indian contingent landing there on the same visa.
While all the others were allowed to proceed to the city without any hassle, the trio of Kashyap, Sai and Swarup were detained and later allowed to go to the city but were warned against playing without “employment visa”.
“Yes, visa issue is resolved for now,” Kashyap told DNA on Monday.
“They (Hong Kong Badminton Association) got us a visa, they arranged it on Monday morning.”
Asked if the visa was an employment visa as required by the immigration officials, Kashyap said: “Not sure what visa it is, but they said it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Kashyap signed off by saying, “Yes, we are feeling okay now,” when asked if he and Sai are in a better frame of mind to play without having to worry about anything, especially when Kashyap said that they were warned against playing and said if “caught, then you’ll face serious consequences”.
The local organisers had made Kashyap, Sai and Swarup fill some visa forms on Sunday to expedite the process.
Meanwhile, Kashyap and Sai have been practicing for the tournament like they normally would. Kashyap will begin his tournament campaign in the qualifiers when he takes on Chinese Qiao Bin on Tuesday, while Praneeth faces Korea’s higher-ranked Wan Ho Son in the main draw first round on Wednesday.
INDIANS AT HONG KONG SUPERSERIES:
MEN’S SINGLES:
Main draw: HS Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram, Sameer Verma, B Sai Praneeth
Qualifying: Parupalli Kashyap, Sourabh Verma
MEN'S DOUBLES:
Main draw: Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy
Qualifying: MR Arjun/ Shlok Ramchandran
WOMEN'S SINGLES:
Main draw: Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu
WOMEN'S DOUBLES:
Main draw: Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy
Qualifying: Sanyogita Ghorpade/ Prajakta Sawant
MIXED DOUBLES:
Main draw: Pranaav Jerry Chopra/ N Sikki Reddy
Qualifying: Rankireddy Satwiksairaj/ Ashwini Ponnappa
