Saina Nehwal to Enter Rio Olympics as World Number 5

Saina Nehwal allotted the 5th rank while PV Sindhu to be seeded at number 9 at the Rio Olympics.

Saina Nehwal to appear in Rio as world number five. (Photo: AP)

Indian badminton star and former world number one Saina Nehwal is seeded fifth while her compatriot PV Sindhu is seeded ninth in the women’s single ranking ahead of the Rio Games, starting August 5th. Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, has received a ninth seeding in the men’s draw.

The seedings are based on Thursday’s World Rankings for the final confirmed Olympic qualifiers, and will be used for the draw on July 26th. Each singles category will comprise 13 seeds. Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and Spain’s Carolina Marin are the top seeds in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.

There are only four seeds in each of the three doubles categories and none of the Indian pairs figure in the seeding list. The men’s singles draw will consist of 41 players in 13 groups, while 40 competitors will be divided into 13 groups in women’s singles. Each group will have one seed. The draw in doubles will have four groups of four pairs. Each group will include a seeded pair.

(With inputs from PTI.)