‘I cry sometimes because it’s not easy to take’: Saina Nehwal on pressure to play everywhere

While the players are busy slugging it out at the Siri Fort Sports Complex for the $350,000 India Open badminton championship crown, a bigger tussle is taking place behind the scenes. The Badminton Association of India wants the country’s top stars to commit for next week’s Badminton Asia Team Championship in Malaysia and the players are dilly-dallying.

The likes of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, and Kidambi Srikanth were not named in the initial team selected for the championship that will serve as the qualifiers for the Thomas and Uber Cup in May. But the team was changed a day before the last date of entry as the BAI felt that their presence was important to ensure qualification for the prestigious team championship.

According to the Thomas and Uber Cup rules, all the four semi-finalists from Asia will directly qualify for the main tournament. While a total of 13 spots will be filled from continental meets, hosts and defending champions, the remaining three spots would be decided on the basis of world rankings of teams.

India is currently ranked sixth in women and fifth in men in Asia. The players are arguing that it isn’t easy to qualify through the Asian Championship and it would be more appropriate to focus on improving the individual rankings that could help them make the grade in the Thomas and Uber Cup.

‘I feel bad’

Nehwal, who has already written to BAI requesting to be left out of the squad, insisted that she needs more time to rest and prepare for tournaments, and would not want to go and play without being at her best.

“I know people want me to play and want me to be there,” she said. “But what is the point when people say, ‘Saina lost,’ and ‘Saina is out of form.’ Then, I have to face it, nobody else. It is a funny thing but I feel bad. I cry sometimes because it is not easy to take.”

She added, “You have to understand that I still need time. It is not that I haven’t played for India. I have played enough Uber Cups and every time I played I have won all my matches. I have planned in such a way that I give good results in team events and big events. So I am mostly looking at Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, those are two targets for me.”

The 27-year-old was speaking to reporters after winning her first-round match against Denmark’s Sofie Holmboe Dahl 21-15, 21-9. Nehwal was slow off the blocks against the Dane but turned on the heat in the second game to wrap up the match in 41 minutes.

Having reached the final of the Indonesia Masters last week, her first for over a year, Nehwal had brushed aside suggestions of being a title contender on home turf during the inauguration event of the India Open on Tuesday, saying she was only looking forward to staying fit and playing well.

She continued the narrative on Wednesday, saying, “It is not easy for people to understand what we go through. I am not 20 anymore, I have to keep myself fit to be able to play for long.

She added, “It is not about training, it is about giving time to the body. It looks easy from outside that we are playing strokes. I don’t want to just play. I want time and be fresh for tournaments.”

‘Killing calendar’

The former world No 1 also took a dig at the Badminton World Federation, who have made it mandatory for the world’s top 15 singles players and top 10 doubles players to compete in 12 ranking events this year.

“You see the calendar, it is a killing calendar, and we don’t know when and how which tournament we will play and what happens next,” she said.

“It is a tough calendar for players. I just feel that it should be reduced. I understand the point of sponsorship and money and not at the condition that players are not going to play well and not give their best. We will not have champions, we will only have tournaments,” she added.

Former world No 1 Lee Chong Wei, through Badminton Association of Malaysia, has already said that he will prefer to pay the fine than play so many tournaments and has the support of his national federation.

On Tuesday, BWF vice president Vishu Toolan had admitted that they were taking the concerns serious but insisted that the players would also have to do a few more things to be able to make more money from the tour.

“I know there are lot of matches and we are not going to disregard the feedback of the players,” Toolan said. “We understand it is a tough tour and we are listening. We would be reviewing it.”

He added, “We have brought in some really big sponsorships. We want to establish a viable tour from which all players can benefit. We have to try to maximise their earning potential by exposing them to more matches.”