There are no chances of Indian stars Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. This news can be confirmed after the Badminton World Federation (BWF) cancelled Singapore Open that could have given an opportunity for Saina to qualify.
"The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm no further tournaments will be played inside the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying window," the apex body said in a statement on Friday.
A player needs to be in the top 16 rankings by 15 June 2021 for him/her to qualify for the Olympics, as announced by the BWF in a statement ad Saina is ranked 22 currently. The statement read, "As such, while the qualification period officially closes 15 June 2021 as per the Revised Tokyo 2020 Qualification System, the current Race To Tokyo rankings list will not change."
The BWF had earlier postponed the qualification date for two months due to the post-Covid-19 situation. However, the deadline could not be extended beyond 15 June and the BWF is forced to cancel the last three qualifiers - India Open, Malaysia Open and Singapore Open. This means that Srikanth and Saina won't stand a chance to qualify.
P.V. Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and the men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, will be part of India's Tokyo 2020 Badminton contingent.
"The Olympic qualification process is in effect closed as there are no additional opportunities for players to earn points," BWF secretary general Thomas Lund said.
"However, we still need to receive confirmations from National Olympic Committees and Member Associations, followed by any possible reallocations, and this will take a number of weeks to complete."
The BWF said, "invitations will be sent shortly with final participation lists and seedings to be published at the conclusion of this process."