Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta plus five make the Olympics cut

The Indian Badminton contingent for the Rio Olympics has been decided. Ace badminton players Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta have made it to the list who will be representing India at the games later this year reports ndtv.  The two are part of the seven players that have made the cut. The players have been chosen based on the official BWF (Badminton World Federation Rankings) that were released today, which were the deciding factor in choosing the qualifiers for the men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles categories.

For Saina, this will be her third outing at the Olympics; she had bagged the bronze medal at the London Olympics four years ago. Also, with PV Sindhu already securing her berth, this is the first time that two Indian women's singles players will be competing at the Olympic stage.  The women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnnappa have qualified for a second time as well.

Also read: Dipa Karmakar becomes the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics

Other countries with two representatives in women's singles are China (Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan); Japan (Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi) and Korea (Sung Ji Hyun and Bae Yeon Ju).

172 players have made it to the list for the Rio Olympics. There still might be some changes, as the final list will be released on July 18. Here's hoping our players retain their spots and do well at the games!

Feature Image Credit: sportskeeda.com