Bangalore, June 1: The beleaguered National Games Organising Committee got some relief at least in one event, as the two Hova badminton courts, being imported from Taiwan, arrived here this morning. And, adding to the relief was the arrival of Rajeev Bagga, whose presence will lend some credibility to the competition, depleted by the absence of injury-hit P Gopi Chand and Deepankar Bhattacharjee.

Since the Hova courts will be laid tomorrow, it will give the players some time for acclimatisation as competition begins only on Friday. In addition, the organisers hope to get one more Hova court from Delhi. The court had been flown from Bangalore to Delhi for the Grand Prix in Delhi in January.If the organisers succeed in getting the third court from Delhi, the tournament will be played on three Hova surfaces. Rajeev Bagga, who first evinced disinterest towards the Games, finally arrived to represent the Maharashtra team and had a practise session in the morning. But, Maharashtra's Vikrant Patwardhan is staying away.

National women's champion Manjusha Kanwar (nee Pawangadkar), who injured her ankle while playing against Finland in the World Badminton Championship at Glasgow, will not participate in the Games. Other notable absentee in women are captain of the Indian team and experienced campaigner, Madhumita Bisht, who has reportedly opted out.

Archana Deodhar (Maharashtra) and Krishna Hazarika (Assam) will benefit from the pull-outs, while Archana and Manju T Abraham (Kerala) may lose their entry in doubles as Archana is paired with Manjusha and Manju with Madhumita.Due to an unique pairing problem in doubles, Punjab's Vijaydeep Singh, is paired with Jaseel P Ismail (Kerala). According to Vijaydeep, ``It is still a mystery as to what will happen if we (Vijaydeep and Jaseel) win a medal in the Games. Which state will be given the medal?''

There are four inter-state entries in men's doubles and five in women's, out of total eight entries. The dilemma of how the medals will be awarded continues as the tournament director S Muralidharan of Kerala is yet to show up.

Two medals for one

Inter-state pairs in the National Games' badminton doubles event will get separate medals and will have to share five points each for a gold medal. The technical director, G Somashekharappa, said that the NGOC is treating badminton doubles as team event and will give five points each to the player's respective state, and both states will be credited with a medal each.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.