COURT CONTROVERSY: SAINA REFUSES TO PLAY DUE TO UNEVEN SURFACE
GUWAHATI: Controversy erupted at the Senior National Badminton Championships on Thursday with defending champion Saina Nehwal refusing to play, citing ‘poor playing surface’ at the venue here.
Saina, who had suffered a shin injury late last year, took the court after Sameer Verma conceded his men’s singles tie following an Achilles’ heel problem. Up against Shruti Mundada in prequarters, Saina had a look at the surface and immediately made it clear that she won’t risk playing on it given that the All England Open was around the corner.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) officials swung into action to sort out the issue. They later convinced Saina, P Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth to play in the evening. “The wooden planks came out at a couple of places after Sindhu played. So they are now going to fix it. We’ll come back in the evening to play our pre-quarterfinals,” Saina’s husband Kashyap said.
The tournament is being played on three courts at the Assam Badminton Academy.
Kashyap, who was also there to play his men’s singles pre-quarterfinal, went to the adjacent court and inspected it too along with Saina.
BAI secretary (event) Omar Rashid said they will fix the courts and also make arrangements in the cement courts at the Tarun Ram Phookan indoor stadium. “The surface became uneven at a couple of places, so three players have refused to play. We will fix the problem here and also make arrangements in the indoor stadium,” Rashid said.