PV Sindhu, Nikhar Garg nominees in BWF Athletes' Commission

The other Indian in the fray is relatively unknown male shuttler called Nikhar Garg, known more for as an anti-establishment voice in the badminton fraternity than for his on-court performances. Garg's official Wikipedia page shows his doubles ranking in January as 374. His nomination may have happened as Garg, through his social media account, last February, expressed his desire to contest for a slot in BWF Athletes' Commission.

The unknown Mumbai shuttler started an online petition in May 2016 urging BWF to grant greater autonomy to the independent players by allowing them to register directly for international tournaments rather than doing the registration through their member associations.

The nominations closed on March 27 with six men and three women standing for the BWF Athletes' Commission elections. Save Sindhu, the list also comprises two former world No.1s in men's doubles and a former European men's singles.

Following the close of nominations on 27 March, three women and six men will stand for election to the body which represents players within the Badminton World Federation.

The others in fray are Lithuania's Akville Stapusaityte, Ugandan Edwin Ekiring, Malaysian Koo Kien Keat, Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour, Mexico's Luis Ramon Garrido Esquivel, German Marc Zwiebler and Korea's Yoo Yeon Seong.

Three persons will be elected to replace outgoing members – Yuhan Tan (Belgium), Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) and Greysia Polii (Indonesia) – who will complete their four-year term in May. The rule states that at least one male and one female player must be elected.

The third person will be the candidate (male or female) with the next highest number of votes. Additionally, a fourth person – a female – will be elected to finish the term of Tang Yuanting. The Chinese player, who became a member of the Athletes' Commission in 2015, has resigned following her retirement from badminton last year, thus leaving a casual vacancy on the Commission.

Therefore, either the female with the second-highest number of votes or the female with the third-highest number of votes (if the third person elected to the Commission is female) will be elected to serve the remaining two years of Tang's term.

For the first time, voting by email will take place and this starts on Wednesday 26 April 2017, and ends on Wednesday 24 May 2017; the date on which players attending the TOTAL BWF Sudirman Cup 2017 in Gold Coast will be able to vote in person at the stadium.