India Open 2026: ‘Bird droppings’ interrupt Prannoy-Loh match, add to organisers’ embarassment
Officials at the Yonex Sunrise India Open were left red-faced on Thursday after the men’s singles match between HS Prannoy and Loh Kean Yew was stopped on two occasions as officials were forced to clean up bird excrement that had landed in the playing area.
The first instance took place when India’s Prannoy was serving while leading 16-14 in the first game. The referee halted the action and called the cleaning staff while former World Champion Yew looked towards the ceiling of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium to spot the culprit.
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The episode repeated once more in the third game, this time with Yew serving at 1-0.
The debris was cleared off the court, and the match resumed with Singapore’s Yew winning 21-18, 19-21, 14-21.
Incidentally, this incident wasn’t the first time that matches at the India Open have been stopped due to a bird defecating on court. Last year a women’s doubles match between Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan and the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto was stopped for the same reason.
That incident, however, occurred at the KD Jadhav indoor hall—a smaller sports facility inside the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. This edition of the India Open is being held in the main stadium of the same complex. It is being seen as a test event for the World Championships, to be held at the same venue in August this year.
The episode was the latest embarrassing moment for organisers at the World Tour 750 event, which has made news for all the wrong reasons.
Players have complained of poor hygiene and air quality. Yew alluded to the latter after his match.
“Everyone’s stamina just dropped like two levels. The weather is not good. My health dropped quite a bit. I breathe less. I wear my mask when I can. I stay indoors as much as possible, but that’s the only thing that I can do,” he told reporters after the match.
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Earlier, World No. 3 Anders Antonsen had withdrawn from the tournament citing Delhi’s poor air quality.
“Due to the extreme pollution in Delhi… I don’t think it’s a place to host a badminton tournament,” Antonsen had posted a day ago.
Fellow Danish player Mia Blichfeldt was the first to raise concerns about the tournament.
“I think the floors are dirty. There is a lot of dirt on the courts. There’s bird excrement. There are birds flying around in the arena,” the 28-year-old, ranked 20 in the world rankings, had said after her opening round match.
Blichfeldt’s statement was refuted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), which said that the birds and hygiene conditions the Danish player was talking about referred to the practice court at the KD Jadhav hall and not the stadium where the competition was being held.
“The playing arena has been kept clean, dirt-free and pigeon-free, and several players have expressed satisfaction with the conditions at the venue,” the BAI said in the statement.
However, what occurred on the courts on Thursday put paid to that statement.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF), meanwhile, took note of the conditions at the venue.
“We also acknowledge the comments shared by players and the subsequent media coverage,” the statement read. The BWF acknowledged that “some areas … including general cleanliness and hygiene plus animal control have required attention…”
The BWF added that the feedback would be useful as India prepares to host the World Championships at the same venue in August this year.
“Insights gathered this week will guide further upgrades to deliver a world-class experience in August, where the seasonal issues are not expected being as severe,” the statement read.
Published on Jan 15, 2026