Shuttler Saina seeded fifth; Sindhu, Srikanth ninth seeds for Rio

Star shuttler Saina Nehwal has been seeded fifth while P.V. Sindhu got the ninth seeding in women's singles at the upcoming Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro.

In men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth, ranked 11th, has been given a ninth seeding.

Saina, the bronze medallist at the London Olympics four years back, is currently the world No. 5 while Sindhu occupies the 10th spot.

The seedings are based on Thursday's Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings and will be used for the draw on Tuesday. Each singles category has 13 seeds.

Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei and Spain's Carolina Marin are the top seeds in men's and women's singles, respectively.

Lee, runner-up at the last two Olympics and winner of two BWF world superseries titles this season, is followed in the seedings by two-time World champion Chen Long and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.

In women's singles, two-time world champion Marin heads a competitive field ahead of two Chinese -- Wang Yihan (2) and defending Olympic champion Li Xuerui (3). Thailand's in-form Ratchanok Intanon (4), winner of three World Superseries titles this year, is seeded fourth.

However, none of the doubles pairs could manage a seeding as there are only four seeds in each of the three categories.

The men's singles draw will consist of 41 players in 13 groups, while 40 competitors will be divided into 13 groups in women's singles. Each group will have one seed. The draw in doubles will have four groups of four pairs. Each group will include a seeded pair.

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will compete in women's doubles, while Manu Atthri and Sumeet Reddy will team up for men's doubles at Rio.

--IANS

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