The World Badminton Championships returns to India after 17 long years. The marquee competition will start from August 17 in New Delhi. The event is being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, which hosted the India Open badminton tournament earlier this year. The venue drew international criticism due to hygiene issues, a monkey menace, as well as bird excreta halting play. The Badminton Association of India and the Sports Authority of India have combined to give the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium a thorough makeover this time.
The organisers have roped in three trained monkey whisperers, who mimic the calls of langurs to scare away rhesus macaques, which are commonly found in central Delhi, including the area around the stadium that will host the August 17-23 championships. Heavy-duty polyethylene bird nets and non-toxic deterrent gels have also been installed.
While the effort put in has been lauded, some sections of social media have made terse remarks about the World Championships organisers’ focus on these remedial measures. Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu defended the organisers.
The unique solution comes in the wake of the India Open in January, which was briefly disrupted by monkeys in the spectator stands, with the images making international headlines.
Rhesus macaques are believed to be wary of langurs, which are considerably larger in size, and the mimicry is being used as a deterrent. The use of actual langurs for such activities was banned in 2012.
“100%. I genuinely don’t understand the outrage. We all love Wimbledon, and they’ve had Rufus the hawk keeping pigeons away for years. Every major sporting event has its own local challenges. This is just one additional measure on top of the countless measures already being taken. Somehow that becomes the talking point,” PV Sindhu wrote on X.
100%. I genuinely don’t understand the outrage.
We all love Wimbledon, and they’ve had Rufus the hawk keeping pigeons away for years. Every major sporting event has its own local challenges.
This is just one additional measure on top of the countless measures already being… https://t.co/M64eyyPXBx
— PV Sindhu (@Pvsindhu1) August 12, 2026
“Can’t wait for the world to experience Indian hospitality. I’m 100% sure we’re going to deliver a world-class World Championships.”
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