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.
