Hyderabad: Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has appealed to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, seeking his help in processing her and her trainer’s visa a week ahead of the Denmark Open. Saina Nehwal wrote in a tweet, tagging Jaishankar, that she is yet to get her visa processed for the tournament. The Denmark Open will be played in Odense from October 15 to October 20. “I have an urgent request regarding visa for me and my trainer to Denmark. I have a tournament next week in Odense and we don’t have our visas processed yet. Our matches are starting on Tuesday next week,” Saina Nehwal tweeted.
Saina Nehwal, ranked 8th in the world, had finished runner-up at the Denmark Open last year, losing to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying in the final.
She is set to face Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi in the first round of the Denmark Open.
Saina’s compatriot PV Sindhu will also be seen in action in the tournament.
Indian badminton stars had struggled to make their mark in the last tournament they played.
Star shuttlers Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth all made first round exits at the Korea Open badminton tournament.
Sindhu had bowed out of the tournament after going down 7-21, 24-22, 15-21 at the hands of USA’s Beiwen Zhang, Sai Praneeth and Saina — both retired hurt in their respective first round matches.
London Olympic bronze medallist Saina was trailing 21-19, 18-21 and 1-8 against South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun when she was forced to retire.
Saina’s husband and personal coach Parupalli Kashyap said she retired because of gastroenteritis problem.
