India won medals in Badminton at both 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics. So, fans obviously have high hopes from badminton at Tokyo. So, how is qualification going on for Tokyo? Let us find out…
For Indian badminton fans, last few months have been very disappointing. All Indian players are struggling with form. The dip in form could not have come at a more wrong time than this. The Tokyo Olympic qualification period is on and Indian players are struggling to get into qualification spots.
Right now, only 3 players are in qualification spots: PV Sindhu in Women’s Singles, Sai Praneeth in Men’s Singles and Rankireddy/Shetty in Men’s Doubles.
At Rio Olympics, 7 players represented India ( 1 Men Singles, 1 Men Doubles Team, 2 Women Singles & 1 Women Doubles Team). At London Olympics, 1 Men’s Singles, 1 Women’s Singles, 1 Women’s Doubles and 1 Mixed Doubles qualified.
So if things stand as it is, India will have lowest number of participants in badminton at Tokyo Olympics in recent times.
So, is it all over for Indian badminton players?
Well, no. There are still 3 months to go for qualification period to end. Here are the remaining tournaments:
BWF 300 – Spain Masters, German Open, Swiss Open
BWF 500 – India Open, Singapore Open
BWF 750 – Malaysia Open
BWF 1000 – All England Open
A maximum of 62,400 points are still available. So, if Indian players are able to find form starting February, there is hope of getting qualification spots.
For Indian players to qualify, they need to be ranked in Top 16. A maximum of 2 players/2 teams can qualify from 1 country in each event.
Let us have a look at current qualification standing.
Men’s Singles
Points of current 16th rank player: 45670
| Player | Points | Current Qualification Rank | Points difference w.r.t 16th place |
| Sai Praneeth | 48430 | 11 | +2970 |
| Sourabh Verma | 38610 | 21 | -6850 |
| Parupalli Kashyap | 38240 | 22 | -7220 |
| H.S. Prannoy | 36430 | 29 | -9030 |
| Lakshya Sen | 33210 | 30 | -12250 |
Women’s Singles
Points of current 16th rank player: 46240
| Player | Points | Current Qualification Rank | Points difference w.r.t 16th place |
| PV Sindhu | 67754 | 6 | +21514 |
| Saina Nehwal | 39437 | 22 | -6803 |
Men’s Doubles:
Points of current 16th rank player: 46109
| Player | Points | Current Qualification Rank | Points difference w.r.t 16th place |
| Rankireddy/Shetty | 57500 | 8 | +11391 |
| Manu/Sumeeth | 32619 | 35 | -13490 |
Women’s Doubles:
Points of current 16th rank player: 43224
| Player | Points | Current Qualification Rank | Points difference w.r.t 16th place |
| Ashwini/Sikki | 33949 | 30 | -9275 |
Mixed Doubles:
Points of current 16th rank player: 43680
| Player | Points | Current Qualification Rank | Points difference w.r.t 16th place |
| Ashwini/Rankireddy | 33647 | 31 | -10033 |
| Sikki/Chopra | 32541 | 35 | -11139 |
Looking at all the numbers above, it is safe to say that PV Sindhu and Rankireddy/Shetty should make the Olympics. However, in women’s doubles and mixed doubles, we now almost need a miraculous run of performances to get a team to qualify.
The hope lies in Men’s Singles and Saina Nehwal in Women’s Singles. Saina is going for her 4th straight Olympics and she is still in the race for Tokyo qualification. If she is able to turnaround her form and produce some good performances in the coming tournaments, she definitely can make it.
In Men’s Singles, Sai Praneeth needs some good performances to cement his place in top 16. He is only 2920 points ahead of 16th place player. If his performances don’t improve, he will go out of top 16 soon. The other Men’s Singles spot can also be achieved. The distance is not too much.
So, Indian badminton fans should still hope. All is still not lost. India still has a practical chance to send 6 players to Tokyo. Our players just need a couple of big performances.
Let us pray and hope the next 3 months are good for Indian badminton.
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