Rio Olympics: Seven Indian Shuttlers Qualify For Mega Event

Rio Olympics 2016 will witness seven badminton players from India, making the nation the ‘biggest contingent’ at the Olympics. The seven shuttlers, representing India in the quadrennial extravaganza, was decided on Sunday, at the Badminton Asia Championship.

The players who have qualified for Rio Olympics, which is less than 100 days away, are Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy, said reports. The London 2012 Summer Olympics, the previous session of the mega sports event had five badminton players from India, where Saina Nehwal won a bronze medal.

Reports are that the eight players would have embodied India at the Rio Olympics, but an untimely injury of Parupalli Kashyap decreased the number to seven. Kashyap underwent a knee surgery last month, following his exclusion from the Rio Olympics list.

Pullela Gopichand, the chief national coach for the Indian Badminton team, said: “It is big achievement for us, a result of our consistent performances. I am quite happy... In fact, eight shuttlers could have qualified but Kashyap suffered an injury at the wrong time”.

The players ‘earned’ their Olympic qualification on the basis of their rankings which will be published on May 5. Also, the Rio Olympics will see two Indian women singles players for the first time, Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu.