New Dehi: London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal on Wednesday lashed out at the 2020 All England Open organisers for going ahead with the tournament despite the outbreak of novel coronavirus.

Saina Nehwal said the All England organisers did not care about players welfare and feelings’ and hosted the premier badminton tournament only for financial reasons’.

While some of the biggest sporting tournaments across the globe were either postponed or suspended or played behind closed doors, All England was held under normal circumstances’ in Birmingham, UK. The Badminton World Federation announced during the high-profile tournament that it suspended the upcoming tournaments on the tour.

Only thing I can think of is that rather than the players welfare n feelings , financial reasons were given more importance. Otherwise there was no other reason for the #AllEnglandOpen2020 to go on last week (sic), Saina Nehwal wrote on Twitter.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Saina Nehwal’s husband, Parupalli Kashyap said the players were under pressure to participate in All England Open despite the global travel restrictions due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Danish badminton player Mads Cornard-Petersen raised the issue on Twitter with a scathing post.

With the world closing down due to the corona virus I get worried and ashamed that All England was played under completely normal standards. It can take up to 14 days before you feel that you are sick. Can’t help to be a little nervous :( Terrible decision, he said.

Notably, Indian shuttlers were in a state of confusion in the lead up to their return from Birmingham due to Indian government’s new travel restrictions last week.