Saina Nehwal yet to join national camp, upset over husband Parupalli Kashyap's exclusion

Saina Nehwal, who is currently training privately with her husband Parupalli Kashyap, is yet to join the national badminton camp for Tokyo Olympic hopefuls. The camp at the SAI Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad started on August 7 after receiving permission from the Telangana government. While the Indian shuttler was supposed to join the camp soon, recent reports suggst that Nehwal is refraining from joining because Kashyap was excluded. 

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Saina Nehwal yet to join national badminton camp, unhappy after Parupalli Kashyap's Tokyo Olympics' omission

While eight Olympic hopefuls had been invited to play at the Academy, only PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and N Sikki Reddy have reported to the camp as of now. Nehwal and Kashyap are training at a private facility, which is close to the Gopichand academy. The couple have even vocal about Kashyap's chances to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and have requested for him to be allowed to train. 

As per a recent Times of India report, the London Olympics bronze medallist had personally requested authorities to let Kashyap train but did not receive a "favourable" response. Kashyap has reportedly mailed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Badminton Association of India (BAI), questioning them for omitting his name from the Olympic probables list. He apparently conveyed that he too has an outside chance to qualify, but cannot do so if he does not train. 

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While talking to PTI about their workout, the London Olympics quarter-finalist had explained that Nehwal was training with him as she wants to "get fitter and reach a decent level" before she returns to train at the national badminton camp. Her training was apparently discussed with Gopichand, India's national coach and their new Indonesian coach, Agus Dwi Santoso. As they started training after weeks, Nehwal and Kashyap began training "with the basics". They will also be training with 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt.

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Kashyap then proceeded to talk about Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, who are not in Hyderabad. He explained that since players train at the court for an hour or two, the academy should allow more players to train there. “Since badminton is not a contact sport so it can be done. In Bangalore, everyone is training and you need good sparring partners. How long can just eight players train?” Kashyap asked. Nehwal recently shared a video of her working out with Kashyap at the private facility. 

On court workout... some multi-shuttle variations 🏃‍♀️🏸... with @parupallik and @GuruSaiDutt1 🤪🤪 pic.twitter.com/94T46n9z6h

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina)

The facility was briefly shut down after Reddy rested positive for COVID-19. However, they resumed after her second test came back negative. Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and Reddy are asked to follow strict safety protocols the Gopichand Academy. Shetty and Rankireddy are currently in Mumbai and Amalapuram (Andhra Pradesh) respectively. Considering the COVID-19 situation, both will probably join players in Hyderabad some weeks later.

Ponnappa, who partners with Sikki for international matches, will join after receiving more information about the international schedule. Ponnappa is based in Bangalore and is currently training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. 

Also read | Saina Nehwal resumes training with Parupalli Kashyap, will join Gopichand Academy later

(Image credits: Saina Nehwal Twitter)