On road to London
With the deadline for Olympic qualification fast approaching, the shuttlers in Hyderabad — the hub of badminton in the country — are set for two final events — the Badminton Asia Championships at Qingdao, China, and the India Open Superseries in New Delhi — before the places for London 2012 are finalised.
On paper, a total of 32 places each are up for grabs in the men’s and women’s singles events, while 16 pairs will take part in the three doubles events. The players will be selected based on the Badminton World Federation rankings which would be released on May 3.
Realistically speaking, however, this close to the deadline, few surprises can be expected. From India, Hyderabad’s Saina Nehwal, currently ranked World No.5, is definitely through to the quadrennial multi-sport spectacle. “Saina has qualified for sure,” said national coach Pullela Gopichand. “But everyone else could be affected by how they perform in Qingdao and New Delhi,” Gopi added.
For India, there is one spot open in all the five events. The men’s singles quota will be filled up by either Hyderabad’s Parupalli Kashyap or Bengaluru’s Ajay Jayaram. The women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa should also qualify, according to Gopi. “Jwala-Ashwini and Jwala-Diju (mixed doubles) should be through, but we can’t take it for granted,” said Gopi, explaining, “A lot of factors could still influence the qualification scenario. For example, if Jwala-Ashwini lose in the first or the second round and a Korean pair goes on to win the tournament, we don’t go through. But that’s just conjecture. There are too many permutations at this point to be sure,” Gopi added.
Jwala says a pre-quarterfinal finish in both the upcoming events should guarantee their qualification, but a tough draw awaits them in China. “I don’t have the habit of looking at draws as I believe in just going out there and performing against anyone. But I’ve been informed the draw for the Asian championships is tough. Let’s see how it goes,” said Jwala, philosophically.
“I and Ashwini could well become the first ever Indian doubles pair to qualify for the Olympics. In fact, as things stand now, I am in with a chance of becoming the first Indian to make the cut in both doubles and mixed doubles.”
The Badminton Asia Championships are slated to begin on April 16. They will then take part in the India Open, which will begin from April 24.
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