JOIN USWith just two tournaments to go before the Olympic qualification, the London contenders would look to rack up enough ranking points when they go all-out to earn a Games berth during the Asian badminton Championship beginning at Qingdao, China, on Tuesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is already assured of a berth but five of her compatriots are still in the running for a berth in the London Olympics and would look to gain as many ranking points as they can in this tournament followed by the India Open, to be held at the SiriâFort Complex here from April 24-29, before the May 3 deadline. The world number five Indian will be keen to gain psychological mileage by defeating the top Chinese shuttlers when she kicks off her campaign against Japan’s Kaori Imabeppu in the Asian meet.The 22-year-old has a reasonable draw and is likely to meet second seed Chinese Xin Wang in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s singles, it is a two-way battle between world number 27 Ajay Jayaram and P Kashyap, ranked 31st, and the duo would start their campaign against Chinese Taipei’s Jen Hao Hsu and second seed Chen Long of China, respectively.
Top Indian doubles player Jwala Gutta is in running for an Olympic berth in two categories — womens doubles and mixed doubles. The 28-year-old from Hyderabad will pair up with Ashwini Ponnappa in women’s doubles as the World number 20 combo opens their campaign against Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati of Indonesia.
Jwala will also combine with her mixed doubles partner V Diju to take on Indonesian pair of Riky Widianto and Puspita Richi Dili in their tournament-opener. The pair is ranked 16th right now and would look to hold their position when the ranking is decided on May 3.