Indian women’s badminton player Saina Nehwal’s chances of defending her title at the Commonwealth Games look bleak as she has decided not to participate in the selection trials for the tournament. The selection trials for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham and the Asian Games in Hangzhou will be held from April 15 to 20. Hisar-born two-time Commonwealth Games champion and London Olympics 2012 bronze medalist has informed the Badminton Association of India (BAI) about her decision not to participate in the trials.
A BAI source told news agency PTI that Saina has written to BAI informing her about her decision not to participate in the trial. This is the only tournament for team selection for Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Uber Cup.
The Commonwealth Games team will consist of 10 members with equal number of male and female players. The contingent for the Asian Games and the Thomas & Uber Cup will have 20 members, with 10 men and 10 women. BAI has cleared that the top 15 players in the BWF rankings will get direct entry while the rest of the players will be selected through trials. Players ranked from 16 to 50 in the world rankings released on March 29 will take part in the trials. BAI will also finalize the probables for the senior core group for the 2024 Olympic Games during the trials.
Former world number one Saina has been battling injuries and poor form for the past few years. She has slipped to 23rd place in the world rankings. The 32-year-old had won gold medals at the 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. He suffered a career-threatening knee injury ahead of the Rio Olympics. He also suffered a groin injury during the Thomas and Uber Cup finals in Aarhus, Denmark in October last year. Also, he had to withdraw from the first round match of the French Open due to a knee injury.
Coming back from injury, she lost to Malvika Bansod in the second round of the India Open. A few weeks later, she took part in three tournaments, the German Open, the All England and the Swiss Open, but failed to advance through the second round.