Road to Paris, Badminton: Who has qualified for Olympics and how did they make it? Can India win a medal?

Badminton wasn’t one of the sports that Indians looked forward to when it came to the Olympics even if individual success at the top level in the racquet sport came pretty early. Former World No. 1 Prakash Padukone had won the prestigious All England Open in 1980 and then a bronze at the World Championships three years later. Pullela Gopichand won the All England Open in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2012 that India won their first-ever Olympics medal in badminton.

The historic achievement was made possible by former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal who captured bronze at the 2012 London Olympics to give a new direction to badminton in India. Nehwal suffered from viral fever going into the tournament but managed to reach the semi-finals in women’s singles before losing to Wang Yihan (China). In the bronze medal match, she was up against Wang Xin (China) who led 21-18 after the first game but was forced to retire early in the second game as Saina became the first badminton player from India to climb on the Olympic podium.

Ever since, India have won a medal in badminton medal in every edition of the Summer Olympics. That remarkable feat has been made possible by PV Sindhu, who won silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.

In 2016, Sindhu gave a tough fight to her arch-rival Carolina Marin (Spain) in the women’s singles final and even won the first game before losing the match. She thus became the first Indian to win silver at the Olympics in badminton.

In Tokyo, Sindhu went down to Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan in the semi-final before beating He Bingjiao of China in the bronze medal match.

The seven India shuttlers who are going to take part in Paris 2024 will aim to extend the overall tally of three medals.

Who is going to Paris?

Overall India have earned five quotas — three singles and two doubles — for the Paris Summer Games in badminton based on the Olympic Games Qualification Rankings.

As per the rules, the top 16 shuttlers (two per country) in men’s and women’s sections of the Olympic Games Qualification Rankings secure qualification on the cut-off date. The qualifying period for the Paris Olympics began on 1 May 2023 and ended on 24 April 2024.

The most prominent among the Indian badminton players going to the Paris Summer Games is Sindhu, who is the only Indian woman athlete to win two Olympic medals.

The 29-year-old was 12 in the women’s rankings, while HS Prannoy (9th) and Lakshya Sen (13th) qualified for men’s singles.

The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty qualified in third spot, while the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa progressed after finishing 13th.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Group stage draw for Indian badminton players

Women’s singles:

Group M: PV Sindhu, Kristin Kuuba, Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq

Men’s singles:

Group K: HS Prannoy (13), Le Duc Phat, Fabian Roth

Group L: Jonatan Christie (3), Lakshya Sen, Kevin Gordon, Julien Caraggi

Women’s doubles:

Group C: Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida (4), Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong, Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa, Setyana Mepasa/Angela Yu

The draw for men’s doubles is still not done.

Who can win a medal?

All three badminton medals for India have so far come in women’s singles and Sindhu will once again be a favourite. She scripted history in Tokyo by winning her second Olympic medal. Even if it was a step down with bronze relatively, the Hyderabad shuttler has shown over the years that she can bring out her best game in the biggest tournaments.

Sindhu has been handed a favourable draw, where she will not meet Tai Tzu Ying, Carolina Marin, and An Se Young till the semi-finals. She, however, could face He Bing Jiao in a Round of 16 match and Chen Yu Fei in the quarter-finals.

The biggest concern for her, however, will be her poor form. Sindhu exited the Indonesia and Singapore Open earlier this year from early rounds.

The next favourite to get a medal is the Satwik-Chirag pair who became the first Indian doubles duo to be ranked world No. 1 after winning the gold at the Asian Games in 2023. The draw for men’s doubles is not done yet but the world No. 3 Indian pair is in good form, having won the Thailand Open earlier the year and if everything goes their way, Satwik and Chirag should be medalling at Paris.

Prannoy hasn’t been in good form in 2024, making early exits from most of the tournaments this year except the Indian Open, where he managed to reach the semi-finals. However, one must remember that most of his defeats have come against top 10 players. He has got a decent draw but things will get tricky from Round of 16.

Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, faces a tricky start, having drawn against four players. Only two groups have four players. Only one can qualify for Round 16 but Sen’s group also has World No.3 Jonatan Christie. Sen last defeated Christie in 2020, losing four times since then.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto have made a good team in quick time and have received a favourable draw as well. A couple of good results could see them reach the quarter-finals.