Saina Nehwal isn’t arrogant, was treated like s**t by own people: Husband P Kashyap on CWG 2022 fiasco
Saina Nehwal, one of the foremost brand ambassadors of badminton in India, was not selected for the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Her husband and coash, P Kashyap, has lambasted the body governing badminton in the country for the fiasco, saying her own people treated her like ‘s**t’. He said Nehwal wasn’t desperate to play at the CWG 2022 as she had won gold medals in 2010 and 2018, but she was hurt with the way she was treated by officials.
P Kashyap, an accomplished badminton player himself, was talking to Indian Express after Nehwal ousted the formidable Chinese player He Bingjiao in the Singapore Open. He also talked about what was going through her mind when she was playing compatriot Malvika Bansod, who had defeated her in January. He claimed the federation had used the defeat to oust her from the CWG team.
“It meant a lot because BAI based their entire selection on that one loss in January. Saina wanted to prove a point, and the pressure showed in the first game. She could play freely only in the second,” Kashyap told the daily.
He claimed the selection trials took place when Nehwal was nursing injuries. He claimed the notion of her “aloof, stand-offish behavior” that was doing the rounds in the badminton circles during the Uber Cup, contributed to the federation’s decision. He said due to her non-selection, she had been in tears on several occasions as the decision put her in a terrible “mind space”.
“It’s very very tough to even practice, and you are not sure, mentally, whether you are preparing to fight your own people or opponents,” he added.
He said the notion that she’s arrogant is wrong. He said Saina is a woman of few words. “She just minds her own business,” Kashyap added.
He claimed the federation went into what he called complete radio silence. They should have given her the minimum respect of having a chat, he added.
He said if Saina was wrong, they could have disciplined her in a chat but no one replied to her messages.
He said the BAI didn’t explain their decision to the Olympic medallist.
He said the federation had foregone a sure shot medal by not trusting Saina Nehwal.
“It’s taken time to recover from the nonsense of non-selection. I don’t think she’s still recovered from how she was treated,” he added.