'Shocking': Saina Nehwal hits out at badminton body over CWG, Asian Games trials
Former world number one shuttler Saina Nehwal has hit out at the Badminton Federation of India (BAI) over the scheduling of selection trials for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
In a series of tweets on Thursday (April 14), Saina, the 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist, described BAI’s attitude as “shocking” and even tagged Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
“Surprised to see all the articles stating that I don’t want to defend my CWG title and my Asiad medal. I’m just not participating in the trials because I just got back from 3 weeks of Europe events and according to the schedule there’s Asian Championships in 2 weeks’ time,” Saina said.
Surprised to see all the articles stating that I don’t want to defend my CWG title and my Asiad medal. I’m just not participating in the trials because I just got back from 3 weeks of Europe events andaccording tothe schedule there’sAsian Championships @BAI_Media @ianuragthakur
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) April 14, 2022
In a letter to BAI, Saina had conveyed her inability to take part in the trials. She had won gold medals in 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. In the 2018 Asian Games, she won a bronze in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Now, there are question marks over her defending the title at CWG 2022 in Birmingham in July-August, and also participating in Asiad 2022 in September in Hangzhou, China.
Saina, who is now world number 23, said it was “impossible” to play non-stop and questioned BAI holding the trials at a short notice. She said BAI is “happy” to put her out of both CWG and Asiad.
“As a senior player to participate in back to back events nonstop is impossible and it’s risking injuries, such short notice is not possible. I’ve conveyed this to BAI but there has been no response from them. It seems like they’re happy to put me out of CWG and Asiad.
“I wish we had better understanding about how to manage a schedule and not announce events with 10 days’ notice. I’m world no. 23 currently and I almost beat the world no. 1 Akane (Yamaguchi) in All England. One loss at India open and BAI tries to pull me down. Shocking,” she said.
Asiad. I wish we had better understanding about how to manage a schedule and not announce events with 10 days notice.I’m world no.23 currently and I almost beat the world no.1 Akane in All England . One loss at India open and BAI tries to pull me down. Shocking @Media_SAI
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) April 14, 2022
A series of injuries and poor form in the last couple of years have seen Saina’s ranking slump. In January, she lost in the second round at the India Open. Last month, at German Open, All England Championships, and Swiss Open, she did not progress beyond the second round.
In singles, Saina is the second-highest ranked Indian woman shuttler in the world, after PV Sindhu, who is ranked No. 7.
The selection trials will be held in New Delhi from April 15-20. The CWG squad will consist of 10 members (5 men, 5 women) while the Asian Games and Thomas & Uber Cup squads will have 20 members each (10 men, 10 women).
The Indian players in the top 15 of the BWF world rankings as of March 29 will get direct entry into the squads while the rest (ranked 16 to 50) will be chosen from the trials.
