Saina asks BWF to intervene after players are kept away from physios, trainers during Thailand tour

BANGKOK: Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday raised concerns over the fitness of the athletes after physios and trainers have been restricted from meeting the badminton players during the entirety of their Thailand tour.

Having undergone coronavirus tests, Saina asked Badminton World Federation (BWF) to sort the mess as this will impact the performance of the players on the court.

Nehwal is currently in Bangkok for the Thailand Open, slated to take place from January 12-17. The shuttler took to Twitter and posted a series of tweets, saying that physios and trainers cannot meet them even after all of them have tested negative for coronavirus.

"The physios and trainers cannot meet us during the entire tour after all of us have tested negative? @bwfmedia @bwf_ac 4 weeks of this how is it possible to maintain ourselves. We want to play the tournament in good condition. Please sort this @bwfmedia," Nehwal wrote.

"Practice only for an hour everyday for the entire team? Gym timings the same ... considering March being the important Olympic qualification period this is not good enough to be in good shape. @bwfmedia," she said in another tweet.

Nehwal also asked why players were not informed beforehand that physios and trainers are not allowed to meet players. "No Time for warm ups/taping / cool downs/stretches..we are talking about the best players in the world competing isn't it? We've spent a lot of money getting the physios and trainers along with us. If they can't help us then why was this not told before? @bwfmedia," she said.

In the last tweet, Nehwal said she tried to get in touch with BWF over the issues but got no reply. "Tried contacting @bwfmedia but no reply .. so had to do this," the tweet read.