A lot will be at stake for the Indian shuttlers in the Malaysia Masters BWF Super 500 tournament in Kuala Lumpur beginning Tuesday. Their main focus will be to crack the top-16 with an eye on Paris Olympics.
Only PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and it doesn't look any different now.
The Olympic qualification period, which started with the Sudirman Cup, ends on April 28, 2024. Two singles shuttlers in top-16 of world rankings and two doubles teams in top-8 in the ranking period will earn a ticket to Paris.
As of now, only Sindhu, HS Prannoy and Satwik-Chirag meet the rankings criteria.
World No. 22 Lakshya Sen and No 23 Kidambi Srikanth lag behind. No. 7 Prannoy should do well in at least 10 tournaments until April 28 to protect his rankings while Lakshya and Srikanth need maximum points in 10 tournaments to make the top-16.
Sindhu is ranked No. 11. The two-time Olympic medallist needs a few quarterfinal and semifinal finishes to make it. Saina Nehwal (No. 36), Aakarshi Kashyap (No. 39) and Malvika Bansod (No. 40) have work to do. With Saina skipping Malaysia Masters the road is becoming tougher for the London Olympics medallist.
Satwik and Chirag are almost there. They are the only team to beat eventual gold medallists in Tokyo. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are ranked 23 now but their path looks difficult.
The women's doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are ranked No. 15 and can make it to the Olympics if they manage to win a couple of tournaments and do well in the rest.
