SAI hails shuttlers for making Rio cut

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday congratulated the seven Indian shuttlers who have made the cut for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro.

Eclipsing the previous high of five shuttlers taking part in the 2012 London Olympics, this year seven Indian shuttlers have made the cut for Rio.

The list includes two female singles players in Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu, one male singles player in Kidambi Srikanth, the women's doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa while Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy make up the male doubles team. The shuttlers qualified on the basis of their rankings after the Badminton Asia Championships ended on Sunday. The cut-off date for achieving the required rankings is May 5.

SAI hailed the shuttlers for achieving Olympic qualification on its official Twitter handle.

"Congratulations @srikidambi @Guttajwala @NSaina @P9Ashwini @AtriManu @Pvsindhu1 and sumeeth reddy on Rio qualification. Best wishes!!," SAI tweeted.

India, however, missed out a second qualifier in the single's category as 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap is out of contention due to injury concerns. The only event where India would miss an entry is in the mixed doubles.

--IANS

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