Satwiksairaj Rankireddy complains of broken rackets; Hyderabad Airport blames CISF

Indian badminton star Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is one of the nation's most competitive and distinguished prospects. He is well-known for his doubles prominency. However, recently, he encountered something strange at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad and has urged the authorities to look into his request.

Satwik went to Twitter to describe his experience that his kitbags were not allowed to be a part of Carryon (hand luggage) and that it had to be checked-in, while the same was not the case previously. He also recalled past instances of kits being damaged during check-in. Thus, he urged the airport authorities to reinstate the Carryon option for kitbags, especially in Hyderabad.

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"Hello Authorities @RGIAHyd. I am satwiksairaj badminton player . Today some strange thing happpend at airport. Everytime we carry our kitbags as carryon. But today Security at hyd didn’t allow us, stating rules are changed and forced us to checkin our Kitbags," he wrote on Twitter.

"There are few incidents in past where racquets got damaged during checkin. As you know, Hyderabad is very popular for badminton. And, there are many players who travel a lot, this will be new problem for us. Please do consider to allow our kitbags as Carryon like past. Thank you," he further noted.

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Meanwhile, the airport authorities blamed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for handling the duties. "Hi Satwik, please note that the said process is handled by the Central Industrial Security Force. We have shared your feedback, and @CISFHQrs are looking into the incident for appropriate action," replied RGIA Hyderabad to Satwik.

Satwik is ranked seventh in the mixed doubles, his highest, with his partner Chirag Shetty. In the men's doubles, he is ranked 26th, while his highest happens to be 19th with his partner Ashwini Ponnappa. He has had top success at the international level, winning the gold and silver during the 2018 Commonwealth Games, besides winning a couple of bronze at the Asia Team Championships in 2016 and 2020.