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What’s the story?
Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, two of India’s top badminton superstars are hopeful of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and can get closer to the Summer extravanga when they play at the Barcelona Spain Masters that commences on February 18th,
In case you did not know
2019 was a rather unfortunate year for Saina and Kidambi and the start of 2020 did not prove to be any good either. So far, Saina has taken part in three events but was able to get beyond the first round in only one of them. On the other hand, Srikanth was eliminated in the opening rounds of all the three tournaments that he has played so far in 2020.
Heart of the matter
Saina is 22nd, while Kidambi is placed at 26th in the ‘Race to Tokyo” rankings.The cut-off date for the Tokyo Olympic 2020 qualification is around the end of April. The duo have to give their best in their next seven tournaments, including the Barcelona Spain Masters if they want to land a berth for the Tokyo Olympics. According to Olympic qualification rules set down by the BWF, only two players can qualify from the singles category if their ranking is within the top 16 by the end of the cut-off date.
What’s next?
Saina, who has previously participated in three Olympic games and won a bronze medal at the London edition of the Games, is hopeful of making her fourth Olympic appearance. She is set to compete against Germany's Yvonne li in her virst round match at the tournament while Srikanth will compete against fellow Indian Subhankar Dey in his first round clash in Barcelona.
