After Saina Nehwal’s bronze medal finish in London 2012, there are high expectations of the former World No. 1, who is India's torchbearer in the Rio Olympics, for a badminton medal. Like her, the experienced doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa is also in the hunt for gold, as is the talented PV Sindhu.
The draw
Badminton, like hockey, follows a league-cum-knockout setup. In the men's singles, three players battle it out in each of 11 groups, and four, in each of two other groups. In the women's singles, there will be 12 groups with three players each and one, with four. The winner from each group progresses to the knockout stage. The doubles format will see two pairs from each group advancing.
With a solid pool of talent, India stands a good chance in both the women's singles and doubles, and men's singles.
The chances
Saina Nehwal, the No. 5 seed, has been drawn into Group G, where she should not find the going tough against Maria Ulitina of the Ukraine and Lohaynny Vicente of Brazil, both of whom are ranked much lower. In the round of 16 she should run up against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand, seeded 12th, whom she defeated 19-21 21-14 21-14 in a hard-fought Malayasian Open quarter-final in April 2016.
A victory here will pit Nehwal against the third seed Li Xuerui of China, the London gold medal winner. The former World No. 1 has been a thorn in the Indian's flesh over the years. Nehwal lost to Li earlier this year too. This will be a tough hurdle on the road to a medal for Saina Nehwal.
PV Sindhu, seeded ninth, has been drawn into Group M, where she will have to overcome Michelle Li of Canada and Laura Sarosi of Hungary. Sarosi may not be too hard to beat, but the Hong Kong-born Li will be no pushover. If Sindhu qualifies, she will probably face the eighth-seeded Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan, a formidable opponent, followed by second-seeded Wang Yihan of China in the quarter-final.
As for the doubles, the Jwala-Ashwini duo can breathe easies at the group stage, with the top two pairs going through. This is probably their last shot at an Olympic medal. However, Group A is a tough one. A second draw will determine the line-up at the quarter-final stage.
Srikanth Kadambi, who will be playing men's singles, is seeded No. 9 and should get through his group, after which he is likely to run into the fifth-seeded Jan Ø Jørgensen of Denmark. But the 23-year-old has proved in the past that he is not fazed by big opposition.
The men's doubles team of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy may not progress very far – but then, with two teams qualifying from each group, a quarter-final entry may not be impossible.
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