Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal has landed in a controversy with the Badminton Association of India (BAI) after she decided to miss the trials for the Thomas and Uber Cup, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
The announcement was received with different opinions where many believed that she was unwilling to defend her Commonwealth Games gold medal and the bronze from the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
However the 32-year-old was furious to read such articles on her as she took to Twitter to share her opinion on the matter. She wrote in a thread, “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.”
The former Olympics bronze medallist shared how playing in back to back events is impossible and can risk injuries especially when known at a very short notice. “In 2 week’s 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 and Asiad.”
She calls out the BAI and demands for better arrangement of schedule. She also slams the organisation for pulling her down after her loss at the India Open.
“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!” she concluded.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) arranged trials will be the only tournaments assigned to pick players for the upcoming high profile events. Therefore the organization is putting Saina Nehwal’s name in the Indian squad under a scanner.
Nehwal, who has been far from her best recently, has dropped from the top 15 rankings and is currently World No.23, therefore she will have t confirm her participation in the Indian team only by going through the trials for the upcoming events like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Thomas and Uber Cup.
