Five Indian shuttlers qualify for London Games

New Delhi: For the first time in Olympics, Indian badminton will see a record participation from five players in four different categories. According to the new world rankings released Thursday, Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa and V. Diju made the cut.

While Saina qualified on the basis of her superior ranking of World No.5, Kashyap qualified after he qualified for the semi-final of the India Open Super Series here last week, which was the last event in the qualification period.

Kashyap's semifinal appearance propelled him by six spots to No. 24, which made him the highest ranked Indian ahead of Jayaram.

For the first time since the introduction of the sport in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Indians also qualified in mixed and women's doubles.

Jwala and Ashwini, who won the Commonwealth Games women's doubles title in 2010, jumped four spots over the last week to reach World No. 16 and it was enough for them to book their London berth.

Jwala and Diju, the country's top mixed doubles pair, also booked their ticket to London as they are ranked No. 15.

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Vimal Kumar and Dipankar Bhattacharjee got an entry in men's doubles category since they bagged entry in the singles event as well. (IANS)