Soong slams Syed Modi organisers for chaotic journey that disrupted his focus

PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Soong Joo Ven slammed the organisers of the Syed Modi International in Lucknow after going through a chaotic journey from his hotel to the tournament venue for his men’s singles quarter-final match.

Independent player Joo Ven opened up about the difficulties he was forced to face before facing Frenchman Alex Lanier in the last eight on Friday.

“My match was third in the order of play in the second court and I was ready and waiting in the hotel lobby 20 minutes before the first match,” said Joo Ven.

“The driver of the car provided by the organisers for my travel from the hotel to the tournament venue though took a different route than the one I was used to the past few days,” said Joo Ven.

“It was the wrong route as there was a massive traffic jam due to a roadblock.

“The hotel was only about five to seven km from the stadium but I was stuck for 40 minutes before the driver contacted an official to explain the situation.

“The official then came over and escorted me to another car.

“I had to rush to cross over highways and roads to get to that car and I was running late for my match.

“Then, the driver drove really fast to get me to the venue on time.

“Honestly, I felt like I was in a movie and I was feeling dizzy and nauseous by the time I reached the venue.

“I only made it there about 15 minutes before my match was due to start.

“As a result, I didn’t even have enough time to warm up properly.

“My opponent managed to arrive on time in another car and had warmed up well.

“It’s really dangerous as I could have got seriously injured during the match.

“I still tried my best but lost the match,” added Joo Ven, who ended up losing 16-21, 17-21 to Lanier.

The 28-year-old was furious with the organisers and did not hide his frustrations.

“I’m really disappointed with the organisers as this should not have happened,” said Joo Ven.

“I issued a complaint to them and I hope the Badminton World Federation (BWF) will also look into this.

“We have to stay in the official hotel whenever we compete in BWF sanctioned tournaments and the least the organisers can do is provide us with transportation to get us to the venue on time.

“I hope this incident does not happen again.”