Ray Of Hope For Saina Nehwal, BAI Set To Conduct Another Selection Trials For Postponed Asiad

The postponement of the Asian Games has come as a ray of hope for London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal with the Badminton Association of India set to conduct another selection trials to pick the team for the continental championships, expected to be held next year.

The postponement of the Asian Games has come as a ray of hope for London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal with the Badminton Association of India set to conduct another selection trials to pick the team for the continental championships, expected to be held next year. The Hangzhou Asian Games, which were scheduled to take place from September 10 to 25, were on Friday postponed indefinitely amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China.

The new dates will be announced in near future.

"It is still one year to go so it is really difficult to say right now. But of course the performance of the players will have to be assessed again. So we will try to find a window to have the trials again," BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra told PTI.

The selection trials for the major events, including Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Thomas and Uber Cup, were held at the K D Jadhav Indoor stadium from April 15 to 20.

However, Saina's decision to skip the event to manage workload triggered a controversy.