Saina Nehwal hits back at badminton association, says BAI ‘happy’ to put her out of Commonwealth and Asian Games

Saina Nehwal, a former world no 1, said she had informed BAI about her decision to skip the trials which begins at the IG stadium on Friday (April 15) but it did not mean that she was not eager to participate at the major events including the Commonwealth Games and Asiad.

Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal on Thursday (April 14) questioned the timing of selection trials and slammed the Badminton Association of India for ‘putting’ her out the two mega sporting events later this year. The governing body had called for selection trials on April 2 to pick the Indian team for big-ticket events including the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Asian Games in Hangzhou and Thomas Cup and Uber Cup in Bangkok from May 8 to 15.

Saina, a former world no 1, said she had informed BAI about her decision to skip the trials which begins at the IG stadium on Friday (April 15) but it did not mean that she was not eager to participate at the major events including the Commonwealth Games and Asiad.

“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,” Saina tweeted.

“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.”

BAI has exempted players inside the top 15 in the BWF rankings from the trials but said shuttlers ranked between 16 to 50 in the latest world rankings, released on March 29, will have to participate in the trials to be selected for the team. Saina, 32, however, questioned the logic of having trials at this juncture.