Saina Nehwal is one of the most popular badminton stars in the country. She has two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games -- 2010 and 2018. However, the star shuttler will not be a part of the Commonwealth Games squad this time around. She has not been named in the Indian women's badminton team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Now, Saina's husband and 2014 CWG goal medallist Parupalli Kashyap has opened up on her non-selection.
“It's about the amount of disrespect shown to a player. It's about your own people treating you like s***. 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 told the Indian Express.
“It's a wrong notion that she's arrogant because she doesn't talk that much. She just minds her own business. No doubt what happened spurred her on, but this situation was not required. They should've given her minimum respect of (having) a chat. If you want to be strict, I understand, but a simple chat is not a free ride. You could've disciplined her in a chat, speaking to her. No one replied to her messages. It's extremely hurtful,” he added.
India's five-member women's team for CWG includes PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Gayatri Gopichand, Treesa Jolly and Ashwini Ponnappa.
Kashyap also talked about how there was no conversation between BAI and Saina, and how communication would have made the things better.
“There was no conversation from BAI saying ‘this is what we are thinking' or ‘this is what we want to do'. No coach watched her at the All England Open and there was no review of her performance. We have given up on a sure shot medal by not trusting our player," said Kashyap.