Lakshya Sen mathematically qualifies for Paris Olympics; India achieve rare feat after 20 years

Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen has mathematically qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, alongside HS Prannoy.  This will be for the first time in 20 years that India will have two men’s singles players in badminton at the Olympics. The last instance of this happening was when Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar quailed for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

In the Olympics, a country shall be allowed two players in the singles category in badminton given that both of them feature in the top 16 in the race to the Paris Rankings. Sen is ranked 12th with 64,021 points whereas Prannoy is placed ninth with 74, 897 points.

Recently, Sen had reached the semi-finals of the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham, where he lost to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.

India’s number 1 women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Castro are also in the reckoning to seal their spot in the Olympics. However, they are still in a rather cautious position as close to five or six pairs are vying for the four slots available.

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PV Sindhu will be the lone shuttler from India in the women’s singles at the Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, the World No 1 men’s singles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lead India in the category at the Olympics.