London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina Nehwal, is unhappy with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) decision to exclude her husband, men’s singles specialist Parupalli Kashyap’s name from the list of Tokyo Olympic probables, it has been learnt. The probables have been allowed to resume training at the Pullela Gopichand national academy in Hyderabad.
As a result, Saina has thus far not joined the camp which started on August 7, and has instead been training at a different badminton facility near the Gopichand academy along with Kashyap, the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion - and a few other national-level players. Saina, a former World No. 1, believes that Kashyap still stands an outside chance to qualify for Tokyo from the remainder of the qualification events leading up to the Games, and that a few more shuttlers should be allowed to join the camp. They can practice at different hours, as only four (P V Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth and N Sikki Reddy) out of the eight selected have reported for the camp. For the four campers, a coaching staff of 10 members has been engaged by SAI.
Saina had personally requested the authorities, on behalf of her husband, to allow Kashyap to partner her at the camp purely on merit, but she didn’t get a favourable response. Kashyap too, had written an explanatory mail to SAI and BAI, arguing that he sees himself as an Olympic probable and that a good showing at the remaining qualifiers could possibly land him a Tokyo ticket. Kashyap confirmed that he has sent mails to SAI and BAI and informed that one of the reasons behind Saina not joining the camp was his non-inclusion. According to him, Saina hasn't decided about joining the camp and has sought a couple of weeks’ time from coaches to make up her mind.
“Saina made a personal request through me. She wasn’t seeking any favours, but argued on valid grounds. She told the authorities that Kashyap is World No. 25 in men’s singles, is No. 3 in India and stands an outside chance to qualify for the Games. So, he should be allowed to join the camp. She could have joined the camp in my absence and I could have gone to a different centre to train. But she was of the view, why not everyone else who stands a chance to qualify, including the two of us, train together. Her thought process was, ‘I am not asking some 100th ranked player to join the camp, but a deserving player who is still looking to qualify’. Saina hasn’t decided about joining the camp as yet,” Kashyap said.
“I don’t know how SAI and BAI decided that I am not an Olympic probable. I say this respectfully and humbly that Srikanth, or for that matter doubles specialists Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki, are themselves struggling to qualify,” he reasoned.
A total of eight Tokyo hopefuls – P V Sindhu, Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Praneeth, Sikki, Ponnappa and Saina herself – were named by SAI to join the camp. The camp is for only those players who stand a chance of qualifying for Tokyo, according to SAI.
