Furious Saina Nehwal Slams 'Bad Umpiring' At World Championship

On Thursday, Saina Nehwal got eliminated from BWF World Championship 2019, currently being held at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland. World No. 8 badminton player Saina Nehwal lost her pre-quarterfinal match to Denmark's Mia Blichfeld.  Slamming the standard of BWF, she blamed the 'bad umpiring' for her loss. Saina has already won silver at the 2015 World Championships and a bronze in 2017. Unfortunately, this time she lost the match by  21-15 25-27 12-21 to Blichfeldt.

The star badminton player of India took to social media to express her frustration, which was supported by her husband Parupalli Kashyap. Kashyap is also an ace Indian badminton player and expressed his displeasure with BWF's poor management quality. This loss means Nehwal's elimination from the World Championship before the quarter-finals for the first time since 2007.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Saina Nehwal got eliminated from BWF World Championship 2019 after poor umpiring and lack of review system.
• She lost her pre-quarterfinal match to Denmark's Mia Blichfeld by 21-15 25-27 12-21.
• Her husband and badminton player Parupalli Kashyap also supported her on social media. 

Read Also: Saina Nehwal Second Highest Earner In Women’s Singles Badminton

Slamming bad umpiring decisions

Sharing her displeasure with the decisions made by the umpire during the match Nehwal expressed her frustration on Twitter. “Still can't believe two match points which the umpire overruled in the second game. And the umpire tells me in the mid of second game 'let the line umpires do their job' and I don't understand suddenly how the umpire overruled the match points...very sick,” said Nehwal. As the match was not conducted in the court with live streaming facility, there's no video evidence to prove Nehwal's point, India Today reported.

still can’t believe 2 match points which the umpire overruled in the second game . And the umpire tells me in the mid of second game “let the line umpires do their job” and I dnt understand suddenly how the umpire overruled the match points..very sick @bwfmedia @HSBCBWF https://t.co/1p4PP4yXzc

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) August 23, 2019

Meanwhile, supporting his wife Kashyap wrote, “2 match-points snatched away by bad umpiring. And numerous wrong decisions. Unbelievable that there are no reviews on other courts at the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. When will our sport get better? SICK @bwfmedia @HSBCBWF @NSaina #feelingcheated #totalbwfworldchampionships2019.” With cameras not being present on the court, the review system was not available which made the player really furious.

Although Saina Nehwal is out, Olympic and two-time World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth are still in the game.

Read Also: Parineeti Chopra Replaces Shraddha Kapoor In Saina Nehwal Biopic

Divya Tripathi is an intern with SheThePeople.TV