By Our Special Correspondent
Saina Nehwal’s chances of defencing her title at the commonwealth games look Bleak as she has decided to the skip the selection trails upon the upcoming multi-sport events. The biggest ticket event includes the commonwealth games in Birmingham and the Hangzhou Asian Games. And the selection trails are scheduled here from April 15 to 20. The 32 years old Hisar born shuttler a two time CWG gold medalist and 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist, has informed the Badminton Association of India (BAI) about her decision to skip the trails. Informing her decision to not play in the trails which will be the only tournament to pick the players from CWG, Asiad and Thomas and Uber Cup, a BAI source told to the PTI. The CWG squad will consists the 10 members are equal number of men and women, while the Asian Games and Thomas and Uber Cup contingents will have 20 members each 10mens and 10 womens. While the rest will be chosen from the trails which see the participations of the shuttlers ranked between the 16 to 50 in the latest world rankings released on March 29. The National governing body will also be finalizing probables for the senior score group for the 2024 Olympic Games during the trails.
Saina has Battling a series of injuries and poor form for the past couple of years which saw see her ranking slip to 23rd. Saina who had won the gold medals at the 2010 and 2018 CWG had suffered a career threatening knee injury ahead of the Rio Olympics. She was also forced the withdraw midway in the first round match at the French open due to the knee injury.
Her return to the circuit at the India open ended in the second round she lost to the fast-rising malavika Bansod. After a few weeks gap she played a three events for last month German Open –All England Open and Swiss Open but she failed to cross the second round. A semifinal finish at 2021 Orleans Master’s super 100 abd quarterfinals at Barcelona Spain Masters Super 300 and Malaysia Masters in 2020 have been Saina’s high lights in recent years.
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