Saina refuses to play due to uneven surface

TIL Desk Sports/ Controversy erupted at the Senior National Badminton Championship on Thursday with defending champion Saina Nehwal refusing to play her singles match, citing “poor playing surface” at the venue in Guwahati.

2012 Olympic bronze-medallist Saina took the court after Sameer Verma conceded his men’s singles tie following an achilles heels problem during his match.Up against Shruti Mundada in the pre-quarters, 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 Championships are around the corner.

The officials, led by Badminton Association of India Secretary (event) Omar Rashid, swung into action to sort out the issue. The BAI officials later convinced Saina, Kashyap and Sai Praneeth to play in the evening.

“The wooden planks came out at a couple of places after Sindhu played her match. So they are now going to fix it. We will come back in the evening to play our pre-quarterfinal matches,” Saina’s husband and fellow badminton player Parupalli Kashyap said.