NEW DELHI: Saina Nehwal will not compete at the national badminton trials for the upcoming Asian Games due to fitness issues.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) will conduct the selection from May 4 to 7 at the Jwala Gutta Academy of Excellence in Telangana to pick the team for the Asian Games, which will be held in Hangzhou, China, in September-October.
“Saina will not be participating as she has some fitness issues. The men’s doubles pair of Kushal Raj and Prakash Raj has also withdrawn from the trials,” BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra told PTI on Monday. “Rest of the players who were invited for the trials will be competing,” added Mishra.
Saina last played at the Orleans Masters. Battling injuries for quite some time, the former World No.1 had skipped the selection for Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in January. She had also missed the trials for the Commonwealth Games last year.
The BAI had directly selected PV Sindhu (Women’s World No. 11), HS Prannoy (Men’s World No.9), men’s pairing of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (World No.6) and women’s combination of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (World No.19) for the Asian Games “based on their placing in the BWF Top-20 ranking list as on April 18”.
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