#3 Badminton
Saina Nehwal – After finishing in the eighth position in the BWF Rankings, London 2012 bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal confirmed her place for Rio 2016, which now will be the third Olympics of her career.
PV Sindhu – Joining the 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist will be PV Sindhu, who finished in 10th place at the end of the qualification period and will now head to Rio to compete in her maiden Olympics.
Kidambi Srikanth – Joining Sindhu in making his Olympics debut will be Kidambi Srikanth, who in the absence of the experienced Parupalli Kashyap will carry the Indian hopes in the men’s singles category. The 22-year-old finished as World No.12 on the final day of qualification.
Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy – Two other players who will be making their debut appearance at the Olympics will be Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy, who will lead the Indian Men’s doubles charge at the event.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa – The experienced pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will also travel to Rio and will, along with Saina, be India’s biggest hopes for a medal. They will be hoping to get some valuable points in the upcoming competitions in order to rise up the rankings and thereby get an easier draw at the Games.
#4 Boxing
Shiva Thapa [Bantamweight – 56kg] – Four years back, Shiva Thapa became the youngest Indian boxer to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. As the first Indian boxer to have booked his Rio berth, today, he is among the country’s best medal prospects headed for the 2016 Olympics in August.
Manoj Kumar – The 29-year-old Haryanvi pugilist made the cut after defeating Tajikistan’s Rakhimov Shavkatdzhon in the 64kg category at AIBA’s final qualifying tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Vikas Krishan – The Bhiwani-boxer, too, sealed his Olympic 2016 place in the 75kg category from the last leg of qualifiers held in Baku, when he downed Dongyun Lee of South Korea with a resounding 3-0 result.
