Saina Nehwal slams BAI on scheduling dates of selection trials for CWG, Asiad

Olympic medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal has come down hard on the Badminton Association of India on selection trial dates for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games which kicked off on Friday at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

“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 @BAI_Media @ianuragthakur,” Saina Nehwal tweeted. The BAI had announced selection trials from April 15 to April 20 for the Commonwealth and Asian Games, with Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu qualifying directly on account of being ranked within the top 15 in the world. Former world no.1 Nehwal had informed the BAI that she will be giving the Selection Trials a miss looking at her packed schedule.

“In 2 weeks’ time, 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 n Asiad, “ said Nehwal.

Top-8 men’s and women’s singles players, Top-6 men’s and women’s doubles pairs and 4 mixed doubles pairs will be selected to be part of the National Core Group along with players selected directly. The World no.23 Saina Nehwal’s schedule has been a packed one of late, participating in the German Open from March 8 to March 13, All England Championships from March 16 to March 20 and Swiss Open from March 22 to March 27. “I wish we had a better understanding of 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, “ said Nehwal.

Saina Nehwal has three Commonwealth Games gold medals one in 2010 and two in 2018 (one team and one individual) along with one silver and one bronze.

Thomas and Uber Cup will take place in Bangkok from May 8 while the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Asian Games will take place in Birmingham from July 28 and September 10 Hangzhou respectively.