Commonwealth Games: Saina Nehwal fumes as dad’s name axed from Indian contingent

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was surprised to find her father Harvir Singh’s name missing from the official list at the Games Village. The sports ministry had cleared his name as an ‘extra official’ with the badminton squad for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Upset over the goof up, Saina vented her anger on social media, saying she had paid for her father’s travel expenses but on arrival saw his name cut from the team official category.

“ Since he hasn’t got accreditation he can’t stay with me. He can’t see my matches and he can’t enter the village. He can’t meet me anyway...what kind of support is this. I wanted his support as I regularly take him for my competitions...but I didn’t understand why nobody informed me all this earlier...that he can’t enter anywhere,” she posted on the social media platform.

Initially, the government had rejected Indian Olympic Association (IOA) proposal to include extra officials for CWG, but later cleared them on ‘no cost to government’

Government had also raised objection to Rio Olympic Games silver medalist PV Sindhu’s mother Vijaya Pusarla’s presence in the list. But later gave her the green signal on no cost to government.

It meant that parents of both the shuttlers were entitled for games accreditation. Sindhu is the flag bearer of the Indian contingent. It is immediately, not known whether she is also facing similar problem like Saina’s.