Court Controversy: Saina Refuses to Play Due to Uneven Surface

The reigning national champion decline to take court for her opening singles match citing a “poor playing surface”.

Saina Nehwal (right) pictured speaking with BAI officials to voice her disapproval of the playing surface at the Nationals in Guwahati.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Badminton Nation)

The first day of big-ticket action at the Senior National Badminton Championships was hit by controversy, with Saina Nehwal refusing to play her opening singles match citing a “poor playing surface”.

Olympic bronze medallist Nehwal was scheduled to launch her title defense at the Nationals in Guwahati against Shruti Mundada in a pre-quarterfinal clash on Thursday, 14 February, but declined to take the court after having a look at the surface, making it clear that she won’t risk playing on it with the All England Championships around the corner.

Nehwal wasn’t the only high-profile player slated to play on the court in question, with Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth also slotted in on the same.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) officials immediately swung into action, and later convinced the trio to contest their matches in the evening.

Olympic and World Championship silver-medallist PV Sindhu, incidentally, had played her last-16 encounter on the same court earlier in the morning.

Nehwal, who had suffered a shin injury late last year, took the court after Sameer Verma conceded his men’s singles tie following an achilles heel problem during his match.

“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.”

P Kashyap

The Nationals are being played on three courts at the Assam Badminton Academy.

Kashyap, who was also there to play his men's singles pre-quarterfinal match, went to the adjacent second court and inspected that as well along with Saina.

Sindhu had competed on the same court in the morning, clinching a straight-game win over Malvika Bansod in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals.

BAI Secretary (Event) Omar Rashid said BAI will fix the courts and also make arrangements in the cement courts at the Tarun Ram Phookan indoor stadium.

“The surface became uneven at a couple of places, so three players have refused to play. We will fix the problem here and also make arrangements in the indoor stadium,” Rashid said.

“It is upto them where they want to play. They have agreed to play the pre-quarterfinals in the evening. The rest of the players will play both their pre-quarters and quarters today itself,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI)