Jwala Gutta’s father says daughter being targeted

New Delhi: A day after the Badminton Association of India (BAI) recommended a life ban on Indian doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta, her father Kranti Gutta told a news channel that his daughter is being targeted and there was no reason for her to apologise.

"Why should Jwala apologise? She has not done anything wrong. IBL is a creation of the Badminton Association of India. Jwala is an icon player and she has reacted to what the team management has said," he told a news channel. "It is not correct to target Jwala like this, many with selfish interests are trying to target her,” Kranti said. On Saturday, the Badminton Association of India`s disciplinary committee had recommended a life ban on top Indian doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta for trying to stop some players of her franchise Krrish Delhi Smashers from playing a match against Banga Beats in the IBL. S Muralidharan, chairman of BAI`s disciplinary committee, said, "I don`t want to talk about it much. It is the discretion of BAI President Mr Akhilesh Das Gupta and on an unconditional apology, Jwala can be set free. But she should feel apologetic for what happened." A controversy had erupted during the August 25 tie when Delhi smashers had threatened to pull out against Banga Beats over the last-minute replacement of injured singles player, Hu Yun of Hong Kong with Denmark`s Jan Jorgensen. As an icon player of Delhi Smashers, Jwala was involved in the whole matter, which was resolved after Beats finally left out Jorgensen and played Arvind Bhat, who was already part of the team. Jwala was then served a 14-day showcause notice by BAI for her conduct during the tie, which was delayed by half an hour. "Jwala had replied to the notice, saying that `it was a decision by the Delhi franchise and not an individual move. Owners asked me to act like that and there is nothing wrong on my part. I have been appointed as an icon player by Delhi and as a captain I acted`," the BAI official said. The BAI official said another notice has also been sent to the Delhi franchise by the IBL governing council to explain its stand on the whole issue. With PTI inputs