xtratime Logo

Xtra Time Web Desk: The upcoming Tokyo Olympics can prove to be India’s best chance for winning multiple medals. As many as 126 athletes will be representing the country in 18 disciplines. With a week to go for the biggest sporting spectacle to begin, Xtra Time analyzes the medal prospects of the country in various disciplines. Let us highlight on the Indian badminton team.

Indian squad: PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

Past performances in the Olympics: India have so far managed to win one silver and one bronze in badminton at the Olympics, since the sport was included during 1992 Barcelona Summer Games. Saina Nehwal was the first shuttler to bring an Olympic medal in 2012 London Olympics. She won a bronze. Reigning world champion P V Sindhu brought glory to the nation by winning silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

India’s hope would be pinned on PV Sindhu who will look to repeat her Rio Olympics success. Sindhu lost to Carolina Marin of Spain in the gold medal winning match in 2016 Rio Olympics. Overall 172 shuttlers across five categories, including men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, will compete for the coveted medal at the Olympics.

PV Sindhu

She is easily the best bet for India to win a medal at the Tokyo Games. The World No 7 ranked shuttler will look to go one step ahead of her silver winning performance at the Rio Olympics in 2016. The 26 year old enters the Tokyo Olympics as the reigning world champion. The absence of Rio Games champion Carolina Marin of Spain, will defintely give Sindhu an edge over her competitors in Tokyo. Sindhu's biggest concerns heading into Tokyo will be her poor form in the last year and half. Since winning the 2019 world title Sindhu has not won a single title. In 14 tournaments spread over the past 23 months, Sindhu has only managed to reach the final of 2021 Swiss Open and the semifinals of the 2021 All England Championships. She will open her Tokyo Olympics campaign against Polikarpova Ksenia of Israel on July 25. Sindhu has been clubbed in an easy Group J, also comprising Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi. Ngan Yi is ranked 34th in the world while Polikarpova is 58th. Sindhu is seeded sixth in women’s singles. Sindhu’s biggest challenges will come from Mia Blichfeldt (Denmark), Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei), Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) and Chen Yu Fie (China).

B. Sai Praneeth

The No. 15 ranked shuttler in the world just about managed to qualify to Tokyo on the basis of his ranking. The 28 year old did not have the best of outings in recent times, failing to win a single match in six matches across four tournaments in 2020. He lost in the first round of Thailand Open, made it to the quarter finals of Swiss Open and failed to go beyond the second round of All England Championships. It would be unfair to expect him to win a medal.  He should advance from the preliminary league stage, but could then run into eighth seed Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the elimination round. Should Praneeth make the quarterfinals, he will face top seed Kento Momota of Japan. Praneeth will open his campaign against Israel’s Misha Zilberman in opening Group D match on the first day of competitions on July 24.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

The first Indian pair to break into the top 10 of the world rankings, Satwiksairaj and Chirag made impressive strides in the last completed season. Their best performance was at the 2021 Swiss Open when they made it to the semi finals.  The pair also reached the quarter final stages of Toyota Thailand Open in 2021. They failed to go beyond the second rounds of Yonex Thaliland Open and All England Championships. Satwik had to deal with a personal loss due to the death of his father. He also contracted COVID-19 due to which the preparations got hampered. The pair will face formidable opposition in the preliminary league stage, being placed in Group A with the world No. 1 Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and the No. 3 team of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei, with only two teams advancing to the quarterfinals.