Everyone whether they are Sports enthusiast or not are looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics 2021 which are going to be held in Tokyo from 23 July to 8 August 2021
With less than 50 days to go; let’s look at India’s chances of getting an Olympic medal – with badminton being one of the best contenders for India to finish at the podium.
India’s Tokyo Olympics 2021 Representation Makes For Sorry Viewing
The likes of Saina Nehwal, the London Olympics bronze-medallist and leading women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy will not be playing in Tokyo Olympics as they didn’t qualify for the Olympics.
It was the cancellation of the various tournaments like the India Open, the Malaysian Open and the Singapore Open (cause of COVID-19 situation) that crashed the hopes of Nehwal and the women’s doubles pair as they failed to make the cut to join the Indian contingent at the Tokyo Olympics.
Indian Badminton Players Who Have Qualified For The Japan Olympics 2021
We have four Indian shuttlers who will represent India at Tokyo Olympics. They are P.V. Sindhu in the women’s singles, B. Sai Praneeth in the men’s singles and the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the men’s doubles.
PV Sindhu India’s only hope in Women’s singles
P V Sindhu is the only Indian female shuttler to qualify for Tokyo Olympics. The 25-year-old is considered among the favourites to finish at the podium in the women’s singles category.
Sindhu, had an excellent performance in the Rio Olympics where she won the Olympic silver medal after losing the hard-fought final against Spain’s Carolina Marin.
After the heroics at 2016 Rio Olympics, Sindhu has made great progress in her career and has attained great achievements such as being the first Indian to be crowned as the World Champion after winning a gold medal at the 2019 BWF World Championships – where she defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in the final.
PV Sindhu Career
PV Sindhu has also won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games.
For the past two years, Sindhu has struggled a little bit and has not been at her best. At this year’s Swiss Open, she reached her first final in over 18 months which at the end she lost to Marin. Currently ranked 7th in the world, even though Sindhu has not won any major titles this year she will make her presence felt at the Tokyo Olympics.
After the defending champion Carolina Marin’s withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics due to injury has made the like of Nozomi Okuhara, Chen Yufei, PV Sindhu and Tai Tzu Ying to be favourites as to emerge as new contenders .
As all eyes will be on P.V. Sindhu at the Tokyo Olympics she will be hoping to go all the way.
Also Read: PM Modi Reviews India’s Olympic Games Preparations