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With Indian badminton getting a silver and bronze at the last 2 Olympics through the exploits of PV Sindhu (Rio Olympics 2016) and Saina Nehwal (London Olympics 2012), the Indian sports lovers are having lot of expectations from the Indian badminton contingent in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The consistent performances of the Indian badminton stars across the 5 events for the last couple of years has only enhanced this expectation.
Sindhu and Sai Praneeth's gold and bronze medals in the World Championships has also highlighted the growing power of Indian badminton. But with the qualification period for the Tokyo Olympics ending in April 2020, there is a lot of catching up to be done for some of the star players to qualify for the Olympics.
Following are the qualification scenarios for the Indian badminton stars across the 5 events.
Men's Singles
Badminton as a discipline at the Tokyo Olympics in men's singles is limited to 2 players per country as long as both the players are in the top 16 ranked players. Otherwise a country can have one representative at the most, that too if they are ranked within the top 38 players including host nation and Tripartite Commission quota places.
If we consider the current "Race to Tokyo" rankings (which takes into account the tournaments between May 2019 and April 2020), we have 6 Indians in the top 30 but only one of them (Sai Praneeth at No. 11) is in the top 16. The remaining five - namely Sourabh Verma (No. 21), Parupalli Kashyap (No. 22), Kidambi Srikanth (No. 26), HS Prannoy (No. 29) and Lakshya Sen (No. 30) have to perform exceptionally well in the next 3 months for India to have 2 representatives in the men's singles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics.
Women's Singles
The qualification criteria for the women's singles is same as that of men's singles with 2 players per country eligible to participate only if they are in the top 16 ranked players. Here Sindhu (at No. 6) is well placed to qualify but a big struggle awaits Saina Nehwal as she is currently languishing at the 22nd spot. Although the road ahead is difficult, we certainly hope that Saina with her grit and determination would be able to overcome this challenge.
Men's Doubles
The badminton field at the Tokyo Olympics in men's doubles is limited to 2 pairs per country as long as both the pairs are in the top 8 ranked players else only one pair is eligible to participate as long as they are in the top 16 pairs. Here Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are in prime position to qualify for the Olympics as they are currently placed 8th in the rankings but it is unlikely that India would have a 2nd pair in men's doubles at the Olympics with Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy currently in the 35th position.
Women's Doubles
The qualification criteria for the Women's doubles is same as that of men's doubles with only the top 16 pairs eligible to participate. With Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy (the highest ranked Indian pair) at the 30th position currently, it would be very difficult for India to have any representation at the women's doubles event at the Tokyo Olympics with just 3 months remaining in the qualification period.
Mixed Doubles
As is the case in the men's and women's doubles events, even in the mixed doubles events only the top 16 pairs qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. The two Indian pairs here are ranked at No. 31 (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa) and No. 35 (Pranav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy) positions and it will be very difficult for either of the pairs to qualify for the Olympics in the remaining 3 months.
Based on the current scenario, it seems India would have a very small representation in badminton at the Tokyo Olympics with one player each in the men's and women's singles and one men's doubles pair. This would definitely be a big let down considering Gopichand was expecting that India would be in a race for a medal in all the 5 events at the Tokyo Olympics. We certainly hope that India is able to win at least a couple of medals in badminton at the Tokyo Olympics even if we do not have a full fledged field across the 5 events.
