Badminton: England defend exit
Badminton England have defended the team's decision to leave the BWF World Championships in India.
Last Updated: 10/08/09 1:26pm
Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy has defended the team's decision to leave the BWF World Championships in India.
The England team decided to withdraw from the tournament in Hyderabad following media reports of a terror threat from Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
That decision has since drawn criticism from Hyderabad Police Commissioner Prabhakar Reddy as well as politicians and Badminton Scotland chief executive Anne Smillie.
However, Christy has no regrets about the decision.
"Of course, we apologise to the federation and the organising committee in India," he said.
"The last thing England would want to do is let down our host or our international federation. The decision doesn't affect how we feel about returning to India for the Commonwealth Games next year."
He added: "We were very clear of our expectations of security before the championships.
"We in no way over-reacted. It was the right thing to do."
Badminton England performance director Ian Moss added: "There was a security presence, but it was not one we had a great level of comfort with.
"After we came back from practising in the main hall, the security was not set up very well at all."
