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| Indian Contingent for London Olympics - Badminton |
With little over two weeks left for the Olympics
to start, let’s have a look at India Contingent for the Games. Let’s start from
most hopeful – Badminton. The two-decade old quest for an elusive Olympic medal
in badminton may end in London for Indian shuttlers. India will be fielding a
formidable outfit comprising five shuttlers, with an eye on clinching three
medals. Incidentally, this will be the biggest Indian badminton contingent
after the sport gained entry into the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, with
Saina leading the way.
Saina Nehwal is a top contender for a medal
finish at London. Saina Nehwal has undoubtedly raised the bar for Indian
shuttlers. World No.5 and extremely popular, she is looked upon as a strong
medal prospect at the London Olympics. She may or may not like to be under such
rising expectations, but it has been inspiring her peers to give their best and
even win a medal in the mega event.
The women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta
and Ashwini Ponnappa, who claimed bronze at the World Championships, and the
mixed team of Valiyaveetil Diju and Jwala are also among the favourites to
finish on the podium. Jwala-Ashwini complement each other quite well on the
court. If Jwala controls the game and finds gaps in the rival court with
immaculate accuracy, Ashwini is the workhorse who not only retrieves well but
can also stuns rivals with power-packed smashes. The elegant Ponnappa from
Bangalore possesses one of the most powerful smashes in the world. A
hard-working shuttler, who does a lot of court coverage, plays behind Jwala. Whether
it is with Ashwini Ponnappa in women's doubles or Valiyaveetil Diju in mixed,
Jwala has always succeeded in exploiting rivals' weakness with her creative
approach.
In Diju, India have a world-class
doubles player. The tall Kerala shuttler possesses an attacking return and
picks a lot of points by attacking from the net. Asian girls always find him a
major threat. Valiyaveetil Diju is currently among the most feared doubles
players in the world. His returns on the first serve are deadly. Diju and Jwala were the
runners-up at the Indian Open at Hyderabad in 2009. The duo also reached the
final in World Super Series Masters final in Malaysia the same year. Riding on
these performances, the duo had reached the career-best ranking of world number
six in August 2010.
The same cannot be said about men's
singles shuttler Parupalli Kashyap. But if the lanky lad can reproduce the game
he displayed at the Indonesia Open, he can do wonders. Parupalli Kashyap will represent
India in the London Olympics in men's singles badminton event while Jwala
Gutta's participation in both women's doubles and mixed doubles. This will be
the first time that any of the Indian badminton doubles pairing will get a
direct entry in the history of Olympics. As for Jwala, she became the first
Indian to qualify for two badminton events - mixed and women's doubles - in the
Olympics.
India's badminton coach Pullela Gopichand is
hoping for more than one medal from his wards at the London Olympics. Gopi says that apart from Saina, the two doubles
pairs Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponappa and Jwala-V Diju also have an outside chance
of winning a medal. Gopi feels that Saina would be targeted by the Chinese
since she won the last two tournaments.
