Top image: Viktor Axelsen suffers a slip during today’s semi final match against Daren Liew
Indian ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap took to his official Instagram account to critique the freezing temperature at the ongoing Barcelona Spain Masters.
Sean Casey, physical coach and nutritionist of Viktor Axelsen highlighted the same problem on his Instagram.
BWF commentator Steen Pedersen also tweeted out a photo from the inside of the arena in a hooded jacket. His caption reads “Freezing cold in the Arena in Barcelona.”
In Kashyap’s post, he said that the stadium was too cold to be a healthy playing condition.
He had a sudden sprain in his lower back in the third game of his first-round match and it went into a spasm.
The spasm eventually led him to forfeit the match against Brazilian Ygor Coelho (Score 9-21, 21-18, 14-12).
In Jan O Jorgensen’s match against Axelsen, Jorgensen had a slip at the beginning of the match. Jorgensen suffered a groin muscle strain, which he failed to recover from. He lost to Axelsen 21-8, 21-5.
Casey said that the court was very slippery at the Barcelona Masters. The cold temperature may be the reason for this as moisture condenses on the cold surface of the synthetic court, Casey reasons.
BWF statues for International Standard Facilities states that the arena should have a temperature of 18 – 30 degrees Celsius. But it seems that the arena is lower in temperature than the prescribed range.
Kashyap said it was disheartening to come out of injury just to get injured again in the first comeback match.
Casey wished Jorgensen a speedy recovery and hopes that BWF would look into the matter since players’ livelihood depended on the ability to play. He pointed out that such injuries are “avoidable environmental playing conditions.”
Kashyap’s Instagram post of the same is liked by many players including Carolina Marin, Jan O Jorgensen, HK Vittinghus, Kim Sa Rang, Ajay Jayaram, Sikki Reddy and Stefani Stoeva. All of the above players are participants in the same tournament.