Saina Nehwal: Is It the end road for her representing India

Saina is reluctant to participate in the trials as she just returned from 3 back to back events in Europe. This trial will also seem problematic to her as Asian Championship is right around the corner.

 

The top 15 players in the world are exempted from such trials. But As Saina is currently the world's 23rd ranked she is required to participate. On the other hand, many other senior players like Ashwini Ponnappa (ranked 50) and B. S. Praneeth (ranked 16) are participating in the trials.

 

Saina’s refusal to enter these trials may very well seal her future as many experts believe that we may no longer see her representing India at the mixed team events and multi-discipline games. Meanwhile, the two time Commonwealth Games Gold medalist defended her decision by tweeting that she wants to compete at Birmingham but it seems improbable now due to “hasty decisions” and “miscommunications”. 

 

She even took to Twitter to vent out her frustration. She wrote “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. 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”. On the other hand, the Badminton Federation of India refused to release any comment on this matter.

This attitude of the federation indicates its increasing focus on new generation players and an indication of changing times in Indian Badminton. The federation looks to nurture and develop young talent like Akarshi Kashyap and Malvika Basnod, who defeated Saina in straight sets in the India Open in January.

While no one can question Saina’s contribution to the sport at both national and international levels, her recent form and drought of medals is a concern. This surely would have played a part in the current stance of the Federation. Saina has been consistently battling injuries and niggles for the past couple of years and this has taken a great toll on her confidence and performance. She even failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

But this doesn't mean that the ‘dragon slayer’ is over. She has shown signs of returning to form recently in her clash with Akane Yamaguchi. Although the Japanese world no.2 Yamaguchi won the match, it was a very close 3 round finish. Also, Saina’s inability to participate in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games will give her ample time to rest and focus more intently on open events. But as far as representing India in team events goes, we might not see her for a long time.