The sport lovers are having high expectations from the Indian Badminton stars. The last two Olympics saw our badminton players producing quality performances winning a silver and bronze for the nation. The growth of Badminton in India was marked further by P V Sindhu and Sai Praneeth’s medal winning efforts at the World Championships. The consistency has let the nation to set high standards and they are expecting a spectacular representation and performance from the Indian stars in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
The Qualification Period
The qualification period is taking place from April 29, 2019 and will go on till April 26,2020. The qualification criteria for singles is limited to 2 players from a country who are ranked within the top 16. The rankings list by the Badminton World Federation scheduled to release on April 30,2020 will be utilized for allocating spots. The doubles is limited to 2 per country, if both the pairs are in top 8 ranked players. If not, only one pair is eligible with them being among the top 16 ranked pairs. The eligibility criteria is same for both the men and women players.
Singles
In men’s singles, Sai Praneeth is at No.11. With his medal winning performance at the World Championships, he holds a steady place in the race to Tokyo. However, the path becomes blurry after him. Srikanth is in 26th rank in the qualification rankings and is in 16th position in the world rankings. The other five players are ranked between 21 and 30. For India to have 2 representatives in men’s singles, they have to deliver extraordinary performances in the next few months.
If we consider women’s singles, Sindhu is well placed at No.6 and can clearly qualify for the Olympics 2020. Saina Nehwal is at No 22. She had a few injury struggles in 2019 and for the first time in 10 years, her rankings slipped out of the top 16. Everyone hopes that though Saina has had a tough time till now, she would qualify for the Olympics fighting all these obstacles.
Doubles
In men’s doubles, the qualification scenario looks no different. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are looking steady ranked 8th. However, the chances of another pair representing India is bleak. The other pair, Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy are currently placed in the 35th rank.
The women’s doubles situation is much worse. It is difficult for India to have representation at the women’s doubles. The highest ranked Indian pair, Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy are at the 30th position.
Currently, looking at the mixed doubles, there are no Indian pairs ranked in the top 16. The two pairs are ranked at No 31 and No 35 and so, the qualification chances are very difficult.
The Asia team Championships for badminton in 2020 is scheduled to kickstart from February 11. This proves to be a crucial part in the path towards Tokyo 2020. Indian women’s squad has withdrawn from this edition at Philippines due to the threat of coronavirus. The men’s contingent are playing this edition. They need to find form and pitch in a good show as they gear up for the Olympics 2020.
It looks like India will have only a small representation in badminton at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Although we might not have representation across all the five fields, we hope India will win a few medals in badminton.
