Indian badminton ace and former world no.1 Saina Nehwal was handed a shock when she was omitted from the Indian contingent set to compete at the Commonwealth Games 2022. While she had secured two gold medals in the 2010 and 2018 editions of the tournament, she was not named into the 215-member Indian contingent over PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand and Ashwini Ponappa.
Following her omission, Nehwal’s husband cum coach, Parupalli Kashyap, blasted the selectors for the decision.
Also Read: Commonwealth Games 2022: India announce 215-member strong contingent
“It’s about the amount of disrespect shown to a player. It’s about your own people treating you like s**t,” Kashyap said to Indian Express.
Nehwal is currently participating in the Singapore Open 2022, where she ousted world no. 9 Bing Jiao of China on Thursday, before crashing out of the tournament in the quarterfinals.
The Indian star shuttler was nursing an injury when selection trials for the Commonwealth Games 2022 was announced. She was beaten by Malvika Bansod in January and Kashyap claimed she was unfit both times and the federation used it as the reason to exclude her.
However, her victory over Bing Jiao at the Singapore Open was her first win against a shuttler ranked inside the top 10 in the world in two years.
“She’s been in tears often, and the issue of non-selection crops up in conversations every second day when she speaks. It’s very, very tough to even practice, and you are not sure, mentally, whether you are preparing to fight your own people or opponents. Your intentions in the match go all wrong in such times, and it’s a terrible mind space,” Kashyap revealed.
The 35-year-old also stated that the treatment against her worked as a confidence booster against Malvika Bansod.
“It meant a lot because BAI based their entire selection on that one loss in January. Saina wanted to prove a point, and the pressure showed in the first game. She could play freely only in second,” he quipped.
Kashyap has also called it a wrong idea that Saina Nehwal is arrogant, explaining that she just does not talk much and minds her own business. However, he has also called out the federation saying Nehwal’s messages were not answered.
The veteran shuttler feels Saina has not recovered since the treatment by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) during the All England Open.
“She’s won 11-12 tour titles, and is a multiple medallist at the Games. It’s taken time to recover from the nonsense of non-selection. I don’t think she’s still recovered from how she was treated,” he said.
While Kashyap is not happy with Saina’s exclusion from the CWG, he feels it might be a ‘blessing in disguise’ for his wife.
“It might well be a blessing in disguise,” he said before adding, “Maybe it’s good she’s not going to CWG and can focus on the World Championships. She knows she can beat the top players, and has never respected any opponent to think she’s unbeatable,” he concluded.
