Top Indian shuttlers to skip Lucknow challenger

A piece of bad news for Indian badminton fans in Lucknow. Top Indian shuttlers including Saina Nehwal, Chetan Anand, Arvind Bhat and Anup Sridhar will not be present at the USD 30,000 Syed Modi Memorial India International Challenge 2008, to be held in Lucknow from December 18 to 21.

Saina has opted out of the tournament. Even if she plays and wins the tournament, she would not get the 4000 points associated with the challenger as the current points system only takes into account the top ten performances of the season - and her top-class performances in bigger tournaments have meant that she stands to gain nothing here. Also, Saina is taking the opportunity to train for the more important Super Series events in Malaysia (Jan 6-11) and Korea (Jan 13-18) early next year. However, she has promised Indian fans that she will be available for Indian Open and the World Championship both of which will be held in Hyderabad next year.

On the men’s side, Anup Sridhar is recovering from an ankle injury while Arvind Bhat is getting married during the same period. Chetan Anand (WR #14) has yet not confirmed his participation and he may opt out for reasons similar to the ones offered by Saina. However, his wife Jwala Gutta would be playing the women’s doubles (with Shruti Kurien-Kanetkar) and mixed doubles (with V Diju) in the Challenger.

Update (December 5, 2008): The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has postponed the Syed Modi Memorial India International Challenge 2008 scheduled for Lucknow from December 18 to 21 due to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. A BAI spokesman said the revised dates would be intimated after consultation with the Badminton Asia Confederation and Badminton World Federation.