Why is Saina Nehwal not in India's squad for Sudirman Cup 2023?

The legendary shuttler will not be representing the country in the upcoming prestigious tournament.

Sudirman Cup 2023 is set to take place in Suzhou, China from 14 May 2023 to 21 May 2023. It is a biennial mixed-team event in which member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) participate. The highly exciting team event sees high-profile players contest in categories like men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles.

The Indian team will also participate in the Sudirman Cup 2023. Stars like P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy will be leading the team that has the task of delivering on the expectations of the fans. Indian team has several notable stars but Saina Nehwal is missing from the lineup.

The Olympic medallist and former World No.1 is one of the key players who is not part of the Indian team. Parupalli Kashyap is also missing from the final list of players that are to represent India at the Sudirman Cup 2023.

Saina Nehwal’s exclusion from Sudirman Cup 2023 squad

Saina Nehwal is a key figure who has a ton of experience. Having said that, the selectors did not consider the 33-year-old for the prestigious tournament. Her recent performances in international-level tournaments have been disappointing. The reigning senior national women’s singles champion Anupama Upadhyaya will be the other women’s singles player in addition to two-time Olympic medallist, P.V. Sindhu.

Aakarshi Kashyap is a surprise inclusion in the squad as the reserves player in women’s singles. In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen is amongst the reserves despite the shuttler suffering from a poor run of results lately. In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lead the Indian charge. In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the All England Open championships semi-finalists, will hope to deliver victories for the team.

World No.9 H.S. Prannoy will be hoping to deliver wins in men’s singles ties. It is worth remembering that the Indian men’s team won the Thomas Cup in 2022, one of the highest points in Indian badminton’s history. The squad will surely take inspiration from that and India’s bronze medal in the Asian Mixed Team championships.

Indian Squad for Sudirman Cup 2023

Here is the Indian team that will travel to China to participate in the Sudirman Cup 2023:

Men’s singles: HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth; Reserve: Lakshya Sen

Women’s singles: PV Sindhu, Anupama Upadhyaya; Reserve: Aakarshi Kashyap

Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila

Women’s doubles: Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly, Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto

Mixed doubles: Tanisha Crasto/Sai Pratheek

The Indian team is in Group C alongside the likes of Chinese Taipei, Australia and Malaysia. It is one of the tightest groups in the tournament and the top two teams will qualify for the knockout stages.