The Badminton World Federation statement on Friday declaring the qualification race closed, finished Srikanth’s hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
While Saina Nehwal’s remains the most disappointing of non-qualifications in badminton, and Ashwini Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy had the remotest of chances, it will be Srikanth’s absence at Tokyo that’ll struggle to be justified by the player’s current form.
Those at the national camp in Hyderabad attest to Srikanth training with a spring in his step and plenty of enthusiasm over the last few months and looking sharp. But even the 28-year-old will agree that he left it too late, as the cancellations of big-point tournaments in India, Malaysia and Singapore piled on.
As things stand, the BWF has no ranking cut-off (like Top 100) for the Olympics, which means qualification extends to Emre Lale from Turkey, 94th in the Race to Tokyo list. And given the Olympics is about widespread participation, even in the event of pull-outs, those called up will likely ensure that more countries should send at least one shuttler in the men’s singles event. While a title win at Singapore could’ve helped Srikanth to within 1000 points of the Top 16 in the qualification cycle, the former World No. 1 will rue the missed chances and poor choices over the last few seasons.
