Parupalli Kashyap questioned why he has not been allowed to train at India’s national training camp at the Pullela Gopichand Academy. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has allowed only eight people to train in preparation for the Olympics. Kashyap is not on the list.

SAI has prioritized P. V. Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sai Praneeth B and Saina Nehwal who are deemed to have a chance to qualify for Tokyo. Kashyap is currently ranked 24th in the world and 29th in the Race to Tokyo. He is below compatriots Sai Praneeth B and Srikanth Kidambi.

Kashyap feels that he has an outside chance to qualify for Tokyo as some qualification tournaments are still left. Outlook India reported Kashyap saying, “I am ranked 23rd (24th) in the world ranking after Sai (Sai Praneeth B) and Srikanth (Kidambi), then why haven’t I been considered.” He said that he did not grasp the explanation to keep the hopefuls safe when they used different gyms, did not stay at the centre and met people outside.

He said he did not understand how SAI and BAI decided that he was not an Olympic hopeful when Srikanth and Sikki were also struggling to qualify. He continued to reason that the national training centre has plenty of room to accommodate other players to train as well. He said, “If I can’t train at the camp, how will I pursue Olympic qualification?”

Kashyap along with wife Saina Nehwal has been training at a separate facility near the national camp. He said he had reached out to the authorities in question to include him to train for Tokyo. But he has not received a favourable answer so far.

Speaking to the Times of India, he said both Saina and him have reached out to the authorities to include his name in the training camp but was disappointed with the answer. He said his exclusion from the training camp was one of the reasons why his wife Saina has not joined the national camp yet.

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