The competition for Olympic qualification intensifies as the full-strength Indian squad participates in the French Open and All England tournaments this fortnight. These competitions, which give significantly more points than the Swiss Open and Madrid Masters later this month, will determine the destiny of several Indian athletes as the qualification deadline of April 28 approaches. Notably, the Thomas and Uber Cup stands as the sole tournament in April.
HS Prannoy and the top-ranked doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have secured Olympic berths. PV Sindhu’s qualification seems assured unless lower-ranked players are upset in the next two weeks.
Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa are likely to qualify over Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in women’s doubles. Ashwini-Tanisha ranks 11th, while Treesa-Gayatri are outside the top 16. Only one top-16 doubles team per country can qualify. The pairs’ large difference of more than 8,000 points indicates that Treesa-Gayatri can only advance with exceptional performance.
In men’s singles, 17th-ranked Lakshya Sen aims to ascend before April 28, starting against Kanta Tsuneyama. Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth face a potential matchup, while Sindhu confronts tough opponents like Michelle Li and potentially Carolina Marin or Beiwen Zhang.
