Saina Nehwal to skip 2023 Asian Badminton Championship trials
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The Badminton Association of India (BAI) will hold national trials soon to choose the Indian squad for the 2023 Badminton Asian Championship, although veteran Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will not compete (BAC). A few days earlier, the BAI had opted to call veteran Nehwal for the trials.
According to a PTI report, Nehwal, who was selected for the women's singles trials along with the youthful Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap, would no longer compete. Bansod is also anticipated to skip the trails.
Now due to the circumstances, PV Sindhu and the teenage Ashmita Chaliha will now face off for the second women's singles slot on the Indian squad against Aakarshi Kashyap. Apart from that, MR Arjun is anticipated to withdraw from the men's doubles trials due to an injury. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are therefore immediately eliminated from consideration for a BAC berth.
Due to their superior global rankings, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy in men's singles, PV Sindhu in women's singles, and the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty all received straight entries onto the BAC squad.
In the women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will also be not available for the trials as they parted ways a few months back. There are two spots at stake in women's doubles, with world number 17 pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand being the frontrunners. The other two pairs in the trials are Ashwini Bhatt and Shikha Gautam, and Haritha Manazhiyil and Ashna Roy.
In mixed doubles, it will be a choice between Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto and the new pair of Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy for one spot.
As far as the tournament is concerned, India lost to Thailand 2-3 in the quarterfinals in 2017 and failed to qualify for the knockout stage in 2019.
