Saina’s withdrawal takes sheen away from Syed Modi tourney

On a day when Pratul Joshi created the biggest upset of his badminton career by beating former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, it was yet another pull out of Saina Nehwal that would dominate the headlines at the Dr K L Garg - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Wednesday.

The world number 3, who reportedly took the court only because of the insistence from her sponsor Sahara and Badminton Association of India, played for just under half an hour and was holding two match points against Ksenia Polikarpova of Russia when she clinched her leg and conceded the first round encounter.

Saina’s withdrawal immediately let the tongues wagging as this is the second time in a row that the London Olympic bronze medallist has disappointed the badminton fans in Lucknow. Last year, Saina came to the Uttar Pradesh capital but withdrew from her first round encounter citing fever and fatigue.

While all these reasons are disputable and there is a vertical divide among BAI officials for and against Saina, the matter of fact is that the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist does not benefit at all from playing in such tournaments as she now only concentrates on the 12-tournament Super Series circuit.

According to the ranking calculation norms of the Badminton World Federation, the top-10 results of any player are only calculated towards the final ranking and hence Saina prefers to train and prepare for these tournaments rather than play in GP Gold and GP events.

While the Indian ace is absolutely right in following this course of action as a professional, the BAI officials are angry that she is “not doing her bit” for Indian badminton. And they have a point.

The world’s top players, including men’s world number one Lee Chong Wei, multiple Olympic gold medallist and world champion Lin Dan and others play the GP Gold events in their respective countries despite the events not adding any value to their career.

On the other hand, Saina has refrained from playing any domestic tournament or an international meet apart from the India Super Series in the last few years.

It is an open secret that the mere presence of the 22-year-old makes badminton lovers flock to the tournament venue and that definitely adds value to the tournament.

The BAI has already taken a decision at its last AGM to make it mandatory for players to play at least two domestic ranking tournaments and the senior nationals. It would be interesting to see whether the decision makers in BAI have the courage to force Saina to follow suit.