Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth misses out on Tokyo Olympics

Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth fail to qualify for the Tokyo games. On Friday, the game's governing body (BWF) made it clear that the current rankings list will not change. The Badminton World Federation also confirmed that they will not conduct any more tournament inside the qualification period.

London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and former world no. 1 Kidambi Srikanth's hopes were shattered after the last of the Olympic qualifiers in Singapore was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BWF further added that "while the qualification period officially closes on 15 June 2021 as per the Revised Tokyo 2020 Qualification System, the current race to Tokyo rankings list will not change."

BWF had earlier revised the qualification period because of the pandemic. They extended it by nearly two months to June 15. The governing body had to cancel three important events before this. After the second wave of the pandemic struck, BWF cancelled the last three qualifiers - India Open, Malaysia Open, Singapore Open. Many players including Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth lost their last chance to earn a qualification.

The BWF secretary general Thomas Lund mentioned the qualification process has come to an end. There are no additional opportunities for players to earn points.
"However, we still need to receive confirmations from National Olympic Committees and Member Associations, followed by any possible reallocations, and this will take several weeks to complete." - Thomas Lund further added.

Qualification rules:
The top 16 players – A maximum of two players each in men's and women's singles from a country – as of June 15 will gain direct entries.

The BWF confirmed that they will shortly send the invitations and final participation list after the above-mentioned processes are complete.

Indian Shuttlers who already made it to Olympics:

• PV Sindhu

Read More: A Glimpse of Indian Female Athletes Who Qualified for Tokyo Olympics

• B Sai Praneeth

• Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Men's doubles pair)

Also Read: Indian Wrestlers who qualified for Tokyo Olympics