BCCL
- India’s contingent for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics is the country’s largest ever with 228 participants — including athletes, coaches, officials and other support staff.
- One of the highly anticipated events is Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina playing in the tennis women’s doubles.
- A keen eye will also be on the badminton matches with four Indian shuttlers in the mix.
The Tokyo Olympics 2021 are right around the corner and India is headed to the games with its largest contingent in history, made up of 228 members. This includes four shuttlers, including past Olympic winner PV Sindu, and two tennis players.
So far India has one bronze medal in men’s tennis from 1996, one bronze medal in women’s single’s badminton in 2012, and silver in the same category from 2016. As the games kick off on July 23, the stands may be empty, but fans at home will be glued to their screens in hopes of another medal.
Here’s a quick look at the full list of badminton and tennis players from India who have qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics:
PV Sindhu — Women's single (Badminton)
BCCL
Pusarla Venkata (PV) Sindhu entered the international arena at the age of 14. She is the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal in Badminton in the year 2016. She also has a bronze from the Asian Badminton Championships 2019 and a silver from the Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge 2020 in her kitty.
For her accomplishments, Sindhu was honoured with the Padma Bhushan last year and selected as one of the ambassadors of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to promote clean and fair play.
B Sai Praneeth — Men's singles (Badminton)
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Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth made headlines when he defeated Taufiq Hidayat, a professional Indonesian Badminton player at the Djarum Indonesia Open in 2013.
He is the first Indian male shuttler to win a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships 2019 in 36 years — and the fourth Indian to win the Super Series title after Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi.
He also received the Arjuna Award, which is given to athletes for their outstanding performance in sports and games, in 2019.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty — Men's doubles (Badminton)
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This will be Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s first appearance in Olympics and, so far, he has two BWF World Tour titles in the bag. His partner, Chiraj Shetty, has eight and is ranked seventh in the world for men’s doubles.
During the Commonwealth Games in 2018, both players brought home a gold in the mixed team event and a silver in the men’s doubles. As a result, the duo was also granted the Arjuna award for their consistent performance in Badminton.
They are being trained by the former world’s number one men’s doubles player, Mathias Boe, for the Tokyo Olympics.
Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina — Women's doubles (Tennis)
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Sania Mirza is a six time grand slam title winner and ranked as the number one player in India by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).
She started playing tennis at the age of six and stepped up to professional competitions in 2003 when she won the Wimbledon Championships Girls doubles title along with Alisa Kleybanova.
Mirza has chosen Gujarat’s first Olympic tennis player, Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina as her partner. Raina won the gold at the South Asian Games in 2016 in the women’s singles and mixed doubles categories.