The third edition of Barcelona Spain Masters 2020 commences this week, standing as the ray of hope for the entry of Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The nation watches as the duo take on the tournament to secure their places.
With the 3rd Edition of Barcelona Spain Masters 2020 kicking off on February 18, renowned Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth hope to consolidate their spot in the 2020 Olympics later to be held in Tokyo, Japan.
The 2020 Spain Masters or officially the Barcelona Spain Masters is a prominent badminton tournament which will commence on the 18th of February at Pavelló de la Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, Spain. The tournament is a part of the Spain Masters championships which are being organized since the year 2018. The tournament is organized by the Spanish Badminton Federation, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation, recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth were not off to a smooth start in the year 2020 and their performances have been deemed ‘inconsistent’ in the year 2019. Saina has emerged as the victor in only the first round out of the three events that took place in 2020 whereas Srikanth has not managed even a single victory in the 3 tournaments he has partaken so far.
Currently, on the ‘Race to Tokyo’ roster, Saina and Srikanth are currently placed on the 22nd and 26th rank. According to the rules of qualification by the Badminton World Federation, only two players from each singles category can qualify only if their ranking is within the top 16 by April of the year.
As the Olympic qualification, cut-off dates approach, only seven tournaments remain for the Indian shuttlers including Saina and Srikanth to claim their places in the 2020 Olympics, including the Barcelona Spain Masters.
BWF World Championships’ victor and gold medallist P V Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth, including men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, have already managed to cement their spot in the Tokyo Olympics, amongst Indians. Praneeth had retired owing to a hamstring injury during the Indian men’s team’s semi-final match against Indonesia on Saturday.
Sourabh Verma who ranks 21st on the ‘Race to Tokyo’ roster will clash against Israeli Misha Zilberman, whereas women’s pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are geared up to face Chinese pair Chen Lu and Xu Ya. Men’s pair Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Krishna Prasad Garaga will be lined up against England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy.
Mixed doubles pair Pranaav and Sikki will face Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje.
Will Saina and Kidambi beat the shuttle all the way to the Tokyo Olympics? Catch the action in the Barcelona Spain Masters 2020 series to find out.
