India’s top badminton players are still uncertain about taking part in the full revised Badminton World Federation calendar, starting with the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Aarhus, Denmark from October 3.

Divided into two legs – European and Asian – the revised international itinerary will have four Tour tournaments, the prestigious team championships and Tour Finals to be played in three locations – two in Denmark and one in Asia. The Asian venue is yet to be confirmed. It means players will have to remain in a biosecure bubble for eight weeks, of which six weeks will be of competition period. After the European leg, BWF is looking to organize a chartered flight from Denmark to Asia for the second phase.

It has only been a month since PV Sindhu and Sai Praneeth – both Olympic hopefuls– started training at the Gopichand academy and they have to assess whether they are physically in best shape to withstand the grueling eight-week programme. In case of the two top doubles combinations in men and women — Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy – they are yet to come together and start training.

Also, the ongoing elite national camp in Hyderabad includes only eight players out of which four – Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Sikki Reddy—have joined. Saina Nehwal has been training separately. Ashwini is training at the Padukone academy in Bengaluru and Chirag at Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai. Satwik, who tested positive for COVID last week, is at his home in Amalapuram. It leaves the Badminton Federation of India to select a team for Thomas and Uber Cup – 10 players each in men and women – entirely on world rankings.

Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand said he is yet to plan on the entire schedule. “There is still time. We have to see how things pan out in the next few days. Sindhu, Srikanth, Sai who are here in camp have been doing well. In doubles the partners have not been able to train together. We have to keep these things in mind. It is a good move by BWF to have multiple tournaments in one venue,” said Gopichand.

For world champion Sindhu and Sai Praneeth, who are certain to make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics, the priority will be to regain full fitness for the Olympic qualification events next year.

“There are three tournaments in a row in Denmark. We have to see how much exertion will happen and whether fitness levels can be maintained,” said Sindhu’s father PV Ramana.

World championships bronze medallist Praneeth will also prefer to increase his workload gradually. “We started training after a long break. The body takes time to adapt to condition and take the load. Priority is to achieve fitness. Also, we have to wait and see the travel plans. There are a lot of things to decide. If I am fit to play I will go. I will have more clarity in next two weeks.”