Badminton News: Saina Nehwal to skip BAC 2023 trials
The national badminton trials for the Asian Mixed Team Championships, held in Dubai from February 14 to February 19, will not feature two-time Commonwealth Games champion Saina Nehwal.
Former world's number one Saina was chosen for the try outs with Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap.
The senior selection committee chose them to choose the second women's singles player for the Asian meet squad, joining double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu.
However, Saina and Malvika have both decided to skip the trials.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2- time CWG Champion Saina Nehwal is among shuttlers who will be skipping the national badminton trials for the Asian Mixed Team Championships, to be held in Dubai from February 14 to 19.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SainaNehwal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SainaNehwal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Badminton?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Badminton</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/badmintonIndia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#badmintonIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/RaZn1UDr4g">pic.twitter.com/RaZn1UDr4g</a></p>— Sports Apna l Indian sports l India 🇮🇳 (@sportsapna1) <a href="https://twitter.com/sportsapna1/status/1609531490890821634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"Saina and Malvika informed BAI that they would be unable to participate in the trials. As a result, Ashmita Chaliha received an invitation to the trials. There are a few more pullouts," a source from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) told PTI.
As a result of Saina and Malvika's unavailability, Aakarshi and Ashmita will duel.
Saina struggled in the 2022 season due to many illnesses and a lack of consistency, which caused her to drop to the world number 31.
After returning from three weeks of European events, the 32-year-old skipped the 2022 Commonwealth Games selection trials in April of last year to manage her workload.
The selection committee has decided to give men's doubles duo Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty, as well as singles players Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, and PV Sindhu, automatic inclusion in the squad because of their better global rankings.
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