5 shuttlers confirmed for London

The world badminton rankings for the London Olympics was freezed on Thursday and that confirmed the participation of five Indian shuttlers. 

Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap will represent India in women's and men's singles. In the doubles category, Jwala Gutta will feature in two categories -- women's doubles (with Ashwini Ponnappa) and mixed doubles (V Diju).

Saina's qualification was always assured and her shocking second-round exit in the India Open had no bearing on her World No 5 position.

However, Kashyap climbed six rungs to be ranked 24th this week. Kashyap was gifted a semifinal berth and an Olympic spot after China's Chen Jin gave him a walkover. He, thus, pipped compatriot Ajay Jayaram in the race for the lone Olympic spot in men's singles.

In the women's doubles, Jwala and Ashwini had reached the quarterfinals last week and gained four places to be ranked 16th. They are 12th out of 16 pairs in the Olympic qualification list.

The mixed doubles pair of Jwala and Diju, too, climbed a spot to be at 14th place.
China has three entries to their name in both men's and women's singles. It is the maximum a country can get when they have their three players in top-4 rankings. Dan, Chen Long and Chen Jin, are among the top four in the men's singles.

In the women’s singles, China has Yihan Wang, Xin Wang Shixian Wang and Li Xuerui as the top four players in the world.