NSt March 15: MALAYSIA is in the spotlight but for the wrong reason, at the Commonwealth Games. And it all has to do with the yet-to-be-released draw of the individual events for the badminton competition. The team managers' meeting concluded yesterday, and although there is another one scheduled for Sunday, the "delay" is the talking point amongst officials and journalists. Tournament referee Ajith Wijayasinghe, however, allayed concerns on the delay. In fact, Arith said it was still within the International Badminton Federation's (IBF) rules and regulations not to release the draw. "Under the IBF rules, the draw should be conducted between one week, and not less than 48 hours before the start of the competition," Arith confirmed. "And since the individual competition only starts on March 20, IBF has not delayed the sending of the draw. "If anything, it is also advised that the draw be conducted as late as possible to accommodate cases of withdrawals." One tournament official, however, said it "was not normal" for the draw to be released so late and it was also not normal to have two team managers' meeting for the same competition. "The IBF in Malaysia has not sent the draw to us. They sent it once but there were some errors and we sent it back. "Since then, they have not got back to us." The IBF was based in Cheltenham, London, until Malaysia successfully bid for the organisation to be moved to Kuala Lumpur in June last year. Ajith, however, also explained that the team managers will be able to make changes to the individual draw as there will be another meeting on Sunday. "I believe the draw will be released to us by then, and we will display the draw for the managers to view at least one day before the meeting," added Ajith. "There were some problems with the seedings and it was pointed out to the IBF. They are looking into the matter, and I believe, we will receive the draw the next day or so." On another matter, Ajith also said that the order of play for the team event was a lively debate with some teams wanting to play the mixed doubles ahead of all the other events. "However, we have decided that the order of play will be as follows, men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, men's singles and mixed doubles. "In the event that a player has to play two consecutive matches, the women's singles will be played first followed by the men's singles, women's doubles, men's doubles and mixed doubles. "If there is still a conflict, the referee will decide."
