Saina will also not participate in National Badminton Trials 2023, Asian Championship tournament will be held in Dubai
Two-time Commonwealth Games champion Saina Nehwal is among the shuttlers who will skip the national trials for the Asian Team Championships to be held in Dubai from February 14 to 19. Former number one Saina was included for the trials along with Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod.
The names of all three were included in the senior selection committee to pick the second women’s singles player along with two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu for the Asian event, but both Saina and Malavika announced that they would not take part in the trials. A source in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) said, “Saina and Malvika have informed BAI about their unavailability for the trials. So Asmita Chaliha has been invited for the trials. Some other players have also decided to withdraw. This will now lead to a contest between Aakarshi and Asmita.
The year 2022 was difficult for Saina
Saina had a tough 2022, battling multiple injuries and a lack of form saw her slip to 31st in the world rankings. She was also not available for the 2022 Commonwealth Games selection trials in April last year to manage her workload. The selection committee decided to give direct entry to singles players Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Sindhu and men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on the basis of their best world rankings.
Virtual meeting was held on 25 December
The committee held a virtual meeting on December 25, in which it decided to select other members of the 14-member squad from the trials. Now this trial will be done in one day only due to non-availability of players. It is learned that MR Arjun is also injured and will not be a part of the trials, leaving the men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garga and Vishnuvardhan Goud P and Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Prateek in a knockout match for the spot.
The winning pair will join Satwik and Chirag in the team. The pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will also not be available for the trials as the pair had parted ways a few months back. Two spots will be up for grabs in women’s doubles with Trisha Jali and Gayatri Gopichand leading the race. The other two pairs in the trials are Ashwini Bhatt and Shikha Gautam and Haritha Manajiye and Aashna Rai.
