It will be the first time since the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 that India has two shuttlers, Lakshya Sen & HS Prannoy in men's singles.
India’s star shuttler, Lakshya Sen has confirmed his place in the Paris Olympics after his brilliant performance on the European Tour. He is now the second Indian men’s singles player for India to qualify for this Olympics after HS Prannoy.
A country can have a maximum of two players in the singles category on the condition that both of them must be in the top 16 in the final Race to Paris Rankings list to be published on 28th April 2024. Interestingly, nearly two decades later, India will have two shuttlers in the men’s singles since the Athens Olympics 2004. Last time Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar were the Indian representatives.
H.S. Prannoy is currently ranked ninth with 74,897 points. Lakshya Sen ranked 12th with 64,021 points in the top 16 Race to Paris Rankings after the Spain Masters 2024. It is a confirmation that H.S. Prannoy and Lakshya Sen are set for their debut Olympics in Paris this year.
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H.S. Prannoy is currently ranked ninth with 74,897 points. Sen ranked 12th with 64,021 points in the top 16 Race to Paris Rankings after the Spain Masters 2024. It is a confirmation that H.S. Prannoy and Lakshya Sen are set for their debut Olympics in Paris this year.
Lakshya who was in bad form and was lagging outside the top 16 in the Race to Paris Rankings, before the start of the year, had a tremendous past month making it to the two back-to-back semis at the French Open Super 750 and All England Super 1000 events respectively.
He has reached 12th position in the Race to Paris and has a very good difference with the players outside the top 16. Hence, none of them can overtake him with just one tournament left before the closing of the rankings. So, he confirmed his debut at this biggest quadrennial event.
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The other pair who is nearing the Paris Olympics is Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto. They surpassed compatriots Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela to enter the top 20 of the BWF World Rankings and become India’s No.1 in the women’s doubles discipline.
Following their performances at the Malaysia Open, All England and currently ongoing Spain Masters, Ashwini and Tanisha rose to 20th place in the Race to Paris Olympics 2024 Rankings with 51,010 points and are on course to qualify for the showpiece.
This will mark Ashwini Ponnappa as only the third shuttler from India to make three Olympic appearances, following Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu.
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