NEW DELHI: London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina Nehwal, is unhappy with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) decision to exclude her husband, men’s singles specialist Parupalli Kashyap‘s name from the list of Tokyo Olympic probables, it has been learnt. The probables have been allowed to resume training at the Pullela Gopichand national academy in Hyderabad.
As a result, Saina has, thus far, not joined the camp which started on August 7, and has instead been training at a different badminton facility near the Gopichand academy along with Kashyap – the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion – and a few other national-level players.

Both Kashyap and Saina, a former World No. 1, believe that the former still stands an outside chance to qualify for Tokyo from the remainder of the qualification events leading up to the Games, and that a few more shuttlers should be allowed to join the camp. They can practice at different hours, as only four (PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth and N Sikki Reddy) out of the eight selected have reported for the camp. For the four campers, a coaching staff of 10 members, including physios, has been engaged by the SAI.
TOI can confirm that Saina had personally requested the authorities, on behalf of her husband, to allow Kashyap to partner her at the camp purely on merit and his Olympic qualification chances, but she didn’t get a favourable response. Kashyap, too, had written an explanatory mail to the SAI and BAI, arguing that he sees himself as an Olympic probable and that a good showing at the remaining qualifiers could possibly land him a Tokyo ticket.

Speaking to TOI, Kashyap confirmed that he has sent mails to SAI and BAI and informed that one of the reasons behind Saina not joining the camp was his non-inclusion. According to him, Saina hasn’t decided about joining the camp and has sought a couple of weeks’ time from coaches to make up her mind.
“Saina and I made a personal request. She wasn’t seeking any favours, but argued on valid grounds. She told the authorities that Kashyap is World No. 23 (actually 25) in men’s singles, is No. 3 in India and stands an outside chance to qualify for the Games. So, he should be allowed to join the camp. She could have joined the camp in my absence and I had gone to a different centre to train. But she was of the view why not everyone else who stands a chance to qualify, including both of us, train together. Her thought process was ‘I am not asking some 100th ranked player to join the camp, but a deserving player who is still looking to qualify’. I still have a tough but outside chance to qualify. Saina hasn’t decided about joining the camp as yet,” Kashyap stated.
“Saina had thought that once everything became better, everyone, including me, would be allowed to join the camp. She thought ‘obviously, Kashyap will be there and we can train together’. Presently, it’s Saina, I, Gurusai Dutt, two juniors Siril Verma and Rahul, Sumit Reddy, Sikki’s husband and Manu Attri, have been training together at different centres. It’s possible that we 15-16 players can train together at the Gopichand academy as part of the camp. I don’t know how SAI and BAI decided that I am not an Olympic probable. I say this respectfully and humbly that Srikanth or, for that matter doubles specialists Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki, too, are struggling to qualify,” he reasoned.
A total of eight Tokyo hopefuls – Sindhu, Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Praneeth, Sikki, Ponnappa and Saina herself – were named by the SAI to join the camp. The camp is for only those players who stand a chance of qualifying for Tokyo, according to the SAI.
Calls to BAI’s secretary general, Ajay Singhania, for his comments went unanswered. TOI has sent a query to the SAI and a response is awaited on the issue.
Kashyap informed that the men’s singles Indonesian coach, Agus Dwi Santoso, has been in constant touch with him and was looking to train the proper men’s singles team together. “There have been four players training and 9-10 coaches at the academy. Only two singles players (Srikanth and Praneeth) have been training. You have the Thomas Cup scheduled in October in Denmark. Santoso wants at least five to six singles players to train together. The sessions start sometime around 8-9 in the morning and last up to 5-6 in the evening. That’s 10 hours of training time every day. Players, who have been training presently, practice for two or two-and-a-half hours. For the remaining seven hours or so, the courts would remain empty with no one practicing. During those hours, the SAI and BAI should allow 4-5 more players to train, including Saina, I and others,” Kashyap stated.
“I had informed the SAI DG and one of its assistant directors about this situation at the camp and that more players should be allowed. Some 7-8 qualifying tournaments are still left for the Olympics. Out of them, Saina needs to perform extremely well in two-three tournaments to qualify for the Olympics. In my case, I have to play some extra-ordinary badminton, give performances in three-four tournaments, like reaching their semifinals. So, I still have an outside chance to qualify, all I need to be in the top-16 of the world rankings to qualify. Srikanth, Lakshay Sen, Sourabh Verma and I, we all have the outside chance. It’s a similar equation for all of us. I don’t know how SAI and BAI directly made up their minds that these seven national campers have a chance and others aren’t even the Olympic probables. The SAI people say that they want to keep these probables safe. But, tell me, when all four of them presently training are allowed to go back home and come to the academy the next day, how are the SAI officials ensuring their safety? Keeping the probables safe, this statement seems weird to me.”
Out of the eight, Satwiksairaj has chosen to stay in Mumbai for the time being, while Chirag is in Amalapuram (Andhra Pradesh). Ponnappa has been training at the Prakash Padukone badminton academy in Bengaluru.