London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal became the latest shuttler to criticise the Badminton World Federation’s new calendar rules for the 2018 season. In a year that also involves two major events – the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games – the 27-year-old said that making it mandatory for top-ranked players to compete in 12 events will be detrimental to their fitness.
Players need a bit of rest between tournaments to take care of any small injuries they are carrying but according to the new schedule there is no time at all, Nehwal said, before pointing out that the BWF world championships and the Asian Games next year are separated by a gap of only 13 days.
“When you play tough tournaments like the world championships, half your energy goes there,” she told reporters at the sidelines of the launch of Premier Badminton League’s new season in New Delhi. “When you play another tournament that is as big in two weeks, then you are challenging yourself again mentally and physically. It’s not easy.
“After the PBL we have three tournaments. Again before the World Championship there are three super series, so I am not understanding why BWF decided to go for such a schedule. It will be too tiring, too challenging,” she added.
Nehwal made a return to the international circuit this year after missing five months in 2016 because of a knee injury and surgery. She bagged the Malaysia Masters title in January and won a bronze at the world championships in August, apart from clinching the senior Nationals in November, which is a decent haul considering she was returning from a long layoff.
The world No 10, however, said that she would have won a lot more medals had she got time to work on her fitness. “I didn’t even expect to win a medal at the world championships after a series of first- and second-round exits in the first half of the year,” she said. “I’m happy that I can beat these top players but I still need to get the fitness to play five matches back-to-back in a tournament.”
Nehwal said that she is finding it difficult to the last a three-game match with her current fitness level, which is why she lost to eventual champion Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals of the Worlds. Even in the final of the senior Nationals, Nehwal felt she would not have been able to win had the match gone into three games.
“I beat Sindhu on that day – I was good, I was moving well, but I was also tired,” she said. “My stamina was over in the second game. If it had gone into a third game I think I would have hardly lasted. She had more stamina than me. She is fitter than me. I won the tournament because I was moving well and my smashes were going hard.”
Nehwal added that she can improve her fitness only if she gets more time to work on it and the new BWF calendar does not allow for that. “That’s the [only] issue. Everyone is retrieving so well at the moment so fitness plays a very big role in women’s singles.”