Scotland has two players in the tournament and Wales has three.

Reacting to the Scottish criticism, Badminton England Chief Executive Adrian Christy said: 'I absolutely respect the decision of any nation to stay. We took a decision based on facts that were available to us at the time.'

He said the team had received warning of a threat 'not just generally to the tournament but to specific top stars'.

'I would suspect, on the back of our decision, security has been strengthened, but that wasn't there when we needed it.'

When shown television footage of stringent security measures in Hyderabad, he told the BBC: 'When we arrived on Friday we sought [security] assurance.

'The level of security that we see now wasn't available or not evident at the time. It was at the point that players' mindsets changed.'

The team flew back because they decided they 'couldn't win the medals' with that mindset.

Elsewhere, Christy said: 'Considering the level of concern that we had, security was very poor. After the players had experienced that, they felt they couldn't put themselves back in the performance mindset. I would suspect, on the back of our decision, security has been strengthened, but that wasn't there when we needed it.'

The eight-strong England squad, which includes Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson, pulled out of the event after a newspaper reported threats by the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Thomas Lund of the Badminton World Federation said: 'It's unfortunate that the English team made their decision before we had had an opportunity to properly brief the team management.'