Seven shuttlers have booked Rio Olympics slots to make it India’s largest ever badminton contingent at the sporting extravaganza. The qualification spots were decided at the recently concluded Badminton Asia Championship.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is yet to release an official statement. However, seven Indians have confirmed their Rio tickets last week. The shuttlers are Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponappa, Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri.
The shuttlers have earned the Olympic qualification based on the rankings, that will be released on May 5. India will have two women’s singles players for the very first time in Saina and Sindhu. The duo will finish within the top 16, making the automatically eligible for a slot.
India had eight players, who could have qualified, but an untimely knee injury to stalwart Parupalli Kashyap thwarted his chances. He underwent surgery and has confirmed his absence from the event.
Apart from mixed doubles, India has participants in every event excluding the mixed doubles. In 2012, five players qualified for the Olympics, a record for the country.
National team Coach Pullela Gopichand has created an eight-week training schedule for the shuttlers. He said, “We had some poor performances are because some of them have fitness issues. But they continued to play as they had to qualify for Rio. Now that the qualification process is over, we will get around eight weeks to train. It will be enough for them. I am expecting more medals this time."
He added, “Kashyap will be a major absence as he had an untimely injury.”
