With just under 5 days to go for the start of the 12th edition of the South Asian Games, Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu are apparently not too keen to feature in the event since neither want their preparations for Rio 2016 to be affected by it.
A 12-member Indian badminton team led by the World No.2 was picked for the Games last week that also has the likes of Kidambi Srikanth, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in the ranks.
When enquired about the development, the Games competition director K Ch Punnaiah Chowdary said he has no information about the matter at the moment.
"As of now, I have no such information," he said.
However, a source from the Badminton Association of India(BAI) said that both Saina and Sindhu had written to the association , citing fitness and health reasons to pull out of the Games and said that they would try to convince them to feature in the Games.
"Some of the top players such as Saina and Sindhu have sent letters to the BAI citing fitness and health issues to skip the SAG. We will try to convince them or leave it to the government to take a call," the source said.
Saina has been given the top seed at the Thailand Masters, slated to begin from the 8th of February. There will be no Srikanth, but it will certainly provide Kashyap with an opportunity to build on a decent finish that he had at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold.
