Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy qualify for World C'ship

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Top Indian shuttlers, including P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, qualified for the prestigious badminton World Championships to be held in Nanjing, China from July 30 to August 5.

Sindhu and Saina who won the silver and bronze medal respectively at the Glasgow edition last year will be joined by World No 5 K Srikanth and World No 10 HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth, ranked 19th in the BWF ranking list that was released yesterday.

Commonwealth Games silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and national champions B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri also booked their tickets for Nanjing in the men's doubles category.

Ashwini Ponnappa, who emerged as the star by guiding India to a historic mixed team gold during the Commonwealth Games, also qualified for the World Championship alongwith her women's doubles partner Sikki Reddy and mixed doubles partner Satwiksairaj.

Upcoming women's doubles pair of Poorvisha S Ram and J Meghana also qualified as the second-best ranked Indian pair, while Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra made it to the list as the best-ranked mixed doubles pair from India.

A member association (MA) is allowed to field four players in a category if all four are ranked within the top eight, or three players if they are ranked in the top 24, or two players if they are ranked in the top 150.

The BWF World ranking list of April 26 determines the eligibility of players under Phase 1 of the qualifying system, while member associations will be informed by May 17 of the players/pairs who are eligible to qualify under phase two.