The upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 is scheduled between 26th July to 11th August. There will be 329 Events across 32 sports. The Motto for the Olympics 2024 is Games Wide Open. The Motto represents making the games more inclusive, equal, responsible, and spectacular.
206 Nations are expected to feature in the 2024 Paris Olympics and around 10,500 athletes will compete in various disciplines. Four new sports are debuting in this Olympics including Breaking, Skateboarding, Sports climbing, and Surfing.
In the badminton competition, overall 173 athletes are participating across five categories featuring Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.
Seven Indian shuttlers led by two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu have obtained five quotas for the Paris Olympics. HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen have secured the quotas in the Men’s Singles category, PV Sindhu in Women’s Singles, in the Men’s Doubles Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty while Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto will represent in the Women’s Doubles. No Indian pair has secured the quota in the mixed doubles category. India at the Olympics 2024 will be fielding their joint biggest badminton team. They also sent seven badminton players to the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Can expect one or two medals for the team in the upcoming Paris Olympics. Seven badminton players of India will carry immense responsibility on their shoulders to make their country proud.
How many Indian badminton players qualified for the Olympics?
Seven Indian badminton players have secured their places for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024 across five quotas. World Champion and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu has directly earned a ticket based on her current Olympic Games Qualification Rankings. Sindhu holds the 12th spot in the rankings which was enough for her to advance to the showpiece event.
The top 16 shuttlers from men’s singles and women’s singles guaranteed their places on the prescribed cut-off date that was set by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The qualification period was almost one year, starting from May 1st, 2023 to April 28th, 2024.
Men’s singles shuttlers and world championship medallists Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy secured their places in the men’s singles quotas. Lakshya Sen is positioned 13th while HS Prannoy holds 9th place in the list.
Men’s doubles shuttlers Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy who had won the Gold Medal last year at the Asian Games which was held in Hangzhou, China secured quotas in the men’s doubles events. The duo sealed the third spot in their category.
The remaining quota is filled by Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto after finishing 13th in the women’s doubles rankings. Both had an eventful last year, winning the prestigious Super 100 title and going all the way to the finals in the Syed Modi International BWF Super 300 event where they lost to Japan’s Iwanaga Rin and Nakanishi Kie by 14-21, 21-17 and 15-21.
India at Olympics 2024 in the Badminton sporting event is expected to win at least two medals.
Which Indian badminton player won a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics?
The expectations were sky high as 140 crore people in India expected at least one medal in the Badminton category and PV Sindhu didn’t disappoint as she won the Bronze Medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics beating China’s He Bingjiao 21-13 and 21-15 in the straight sets in the Bronze Medal match.
She underwent a gruelling journey along the way, beating Ksenia Polikarpova 2-0 (21-7 and 21-10) and then Cheung Ngan Yi 2-0 (21-9 and 21-16) in the group stages. In the round of 16, she secured a third straight win beating Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 2-0 in straight sets (21-15 and 21-13). She entered the Quarter-Finals and outclassed Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in straight sets yet again (21-13, 22-20). Sindhu got her taste of medicine in the Semi-Finals as she suffered a 2-0 defeat against Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying by 21-18 and 21-12.
Sindhu became the only Indian woman to bag two Olympic medals, she previously won the silver medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics. She is termed India’s best badminton player for the numerous achievements she holds in the sport.
Who won India’s first Olympic medal in badminton?
Saina Nehwal made history by becoming the first-ever badminton player from India to win an Olympic medal. She made the country proud, securing the Bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics. Nehwal had held the tag of India’s best badminton player for many years but faded away due to injury and a dip in form.
Conclusion
The current contingent of Indian shuttlers who are qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics has the huge potential to win the medal and make the country proud. We wish them all the very best to have great success in their journey. Two Olympic medalist PV Sindhu is eyeing her third consecutive medal in the Women’s Singles category and she is the hot favorite to have a podium finish.
