BAI to send nine-member contingent to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Five coaching staff will accompany four qualified shuttlers at the mega event.

The badminton contingent for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will have a nine-member team consisting of three coaches and two physios alongside four qualified shuttlers.

Earlier BAI had proposed a 7-member coaching and support staff to be sent along with the players. However, with strict Covid-19 protocols and an allotted quota of 33% of support staff alone for the number of qualified players, only a 5-member team of coaches and support staff have been allotted to travel with the badminton contingent.

While each of the qualified players had their individual team of trainers and physios as part of their preparations, the approved contingent list comprise of singles coach Park Tae-Sang and Agus Dwi Santosa along with doubles coach Mathias Boe and physios Evangline Baddam and Sumansh Sivalanka to accompanying the Indian players, PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and men’s doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy. 

“With just one quota available Gopichand decided to opt-out in order to ensure Agus Dwi Santosa could be accommodated who has been training with Sai [Praneeth] since the pandemic”, said BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania said.

With Saina Nehwal and Sindhu winning Olympics medals in 2012 and 2016 consecutively, the Indian team will look to complete a hat-trick of medals at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

This year Saina Nehwal and Shrikanth Kidambi will miss out on the event. This happened as they failed to secure a Tokyo Olympics berth as the Singapore Open was cancelled due to COVID-19. The Singapore Open was the last tournament offering points in the updated Tokyo Olympics qualification window.

PV Sindhu is the biggest hope for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics this season. After winning a silver in 2016, she will now aim for a step further and hope to convert her silver to gold. B Sai Praneeth is the only Indian in the men's singles category at the Tokyo Olympics.

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