Saina-BAI face-off: End to an illustrious journey?

New Delhi: Saina Nehwal's decision to skip the selection trials for the CWG and the Asian Games could well be the beginning of an end to what has been an illustrious journey in international badminton for more than a decade and half.

A former world No.1, Saina has been the torch-bearer of women's badminton in the international arena, having represented the country thrice at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (2018), New Delhi (2010) and Melbourne (2006). While there shouldn't be an iota of doubt that the Hisar-born shuttler can still work her magic with some stunning performances in the professional circuit but her reluctance to appear for BAI trials could well end her chances of representing the flag at multi-discipline events like CWG, Asiad, Olympics and Uber Cup. A two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Saina did harbour hopes of defending her title at Birmingham but call it a hasty decision or a miscommunication, the dream is now looking like a distant one.

On Thursday, an upset Saina took to twitter to slam the Badminton Association of India for not responding to her e-mail, also questioning the logic behind hosting the trials. The federation, however, has maintained radio silence, indicating that the transition phase in women's singles has started and the focus from now on will be solely on the younger crop of players, allowing them to showcase their talent at the international stage. Saina's decision to play India Open in January without achieving full fitness also backfired as she suffered a straight-game loss to fast-rising Malvika Bansod. This along with her recent poor show raised doubts on her ability of ensuring a medal at the multi-discipline games.

"She has achieved a lot for the country but in the last two years, she hasn't done anything worth mentioning. She has also not been able to sort out her injury issues," a former coach told PTI on condition of anonymity. "It is tough to play at the international level with consistent niggles, so she needs to accept it and shouldn't get hyper over these issues. No one can deny her contribution to the game but I don't want to see her being so bitter about it," the acclaimed coach said. BAI seems to have set the wheels of change into motion when they called for the selection trials on April 2 to pick teams for Commonwealth Games, Thomas and Uber Cup and Asian Games. While the top 15 players were exempted from the trials, the rest of the top Indian players, including Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth and three-time CWG medallist Ashwini Ponnappa, who are ranked from 16 to 50, agreed to participate in the trials which began here on Friday.

"She could have taken it as just another week-long tournament and played. I understand two-week time is not ideal but where is the window in a crammed schedule?," the former coach said. "It is a new administration and I don't think they are being unfair by hosting the trials," he added.