Sai Praneeth nominated for Khel Ratna with K Srikanth
Other Sports | July 01, 2021 14:10 ISTThe Badminton Association of India (BAI) also nominated HS Prannoy, Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sameer Verma for the Arjuna Awards.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) also nominated HS Prannoy, Pranav Jerry Chopra and Sameer Verma for the Arjuna Awards.
Former world no 1 Srikanth and London Games bronze-medallist Saina's hopes were all but dashed when the last of the Olympic qualifiers in Singapore was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament organisers Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) and Badminton World Federation (BWF) jointly agreed to cancel the Singapore Open scheduled for June 1-6.
The decision came as a huge setback for London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina and men's star Srikanth's last hopes of Olympic qualification.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) had earlier said that it hopes to send players to Malaysia via Doha, Qatar.
Saina, who won India's first Olympic medal in the sport in 2012, is ranked 22nd while former world No.1 Srikanth is 20th. Both players need to be within the top 16 to secure qualification.
The travel ban, which has been implemented in response to the worsening Covid-19 situation in India, has put doubts over whether the Indian contingent will be able to take part in the Malaysian Open, which will be held from May 25 to 30.
Going through multiple COVID tests and living in a bio-bubble have become the new normal for international athletes and Srikanth has experienced it all in the last few months.
Fourth-seeded Saina, who is desperately seeking ranking points to make it to her fourth Olympics, took just 21 minutes to crush Ireland's Rachael Darragh 21-9 21-5 in a women's singles opening round match
Seeded eight, Srikanth lost to Ireland's unseeded player Nguyen Nhat 11-21 21-15 12-21 on the opening day of the tournament.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also progressed to the quarterfinals, continuing their recent good run in international badminton.
Sindhu beat Yigit Neslihan of Turkey 21-16 21-19 in her first round match that lasted 42 minutes.
World No.13 Srikanth, an Olympic hopeful, will be up against either France's Thomas Rouxel or Canada's Xiaodong Sheng in the next round.
Sindhu, the Olympic silver medallist, notched up a 21-18 21-15 win over world number 13 Pornpawee Chochuwong in her third and final match after suffering defeats in the first two days.
The former world number one, after his three consecutive losses, finished last in Group B.
Kidambi lost 21-19, 9-21, 19-21 to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei, Sindhu suffered an 18-21, 13-21 loss to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon.
Srikanth squandered an opening game advantage, losing 21-15 16-21 18-21 to world number three Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a gruelling 77-minute contest.
Sindhu, who had won the prestigious title in 2018, has been clubbed in Group 'B' alongside top-ranked Tai Tzu Yin.
Srikanth withdrew from the tournament after B Sai Praneeth, who he was sharing a room with, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Praneeth and Srikanth were among the frontrunners for the Thailand Open Super 1000 title.
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