Easy draw for Sharath in Olympic qualifiers

Ranked 83 in the world, Sharath has been clubbed with England's Baggaley Andrew (138), Slovakian Jan Zibrat (215) and Kirill Gerassimenko (561) from Kazakhstan in group 7.

National champion A Amalraj, whose world ranking is 165, has been placed in group 2 where he will have for company Emmanuel Lebesson (49) from France, Taipei's Wu Chi Chi (147) and Vladislav Sorbalo (784) from Moldova.

As for the women's draw, national champion Poulomi Ghatak and Kumaresan Shamini are placed in group 5 and 8, respectively.

Both the women will have to contend with top-ranked players in their groups.

Ghatak will run into No. 2 player, Elena Timina (121) of the Netherlands. Similarly, Shamini will have to overcome Joanna Parker of England, ranked 129.

Coach Bhawani Mukherjee said all his players felt happy about the draw and he expects them to make it to the next stage.

"The draws are definitely easy and the players are confident of good performances. Both the men paddlers should have little difficulty in reaching stage two but the girls will have to really do well to move forward," he said.

With nine Olympic slots in the men's section and six in women's category up for grabs, the Indian players are determined to use the opportunity to seal their London berths.