Aparna in unenviable position

NEW DELHI, APRIL 28. The last of the rankings before the Olympic qualification deadline having been issued by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) on Thursday, Aparna Popat finds herself at the 53rd place in the women's singles chart and without any realistic hope for a place in the Sydney Games.

Though the IBF has not yet announced how it will go about distributing the `vacant' slots in the draw, caused by the duplication of entries in various events put together, it is logical to argue that Aparna will not be able to bridge the gap to be in a position to step into any such `vacancy'.

The poorest women's qualifier for the Olympics as per Thursday's rankings (other than through a continental quota) is the 32nd- ranked Katja Michalowsky of Germany.

As of now, there are eight players above Aparna who will be eligible to qualify in case there is to be a vacancy. The final deadline for qualification is April 30, which means that points being gathered at the ongoing European championships at Glasgow, and the Waitakere International at Auckland, which began on Thursday, will count. Both these tournaments end on April 29.

On a rough count, there should be more than 20 vacancies, (caused by duplication) in the total field of 172 players when the IBF finalises the Olympic qualifiers' list on April 30.

In the men's rankings, Gopi Chand has fallen five places from his last week's position to be 36th. He is right now the 24th qualifier for the Olympics. Considering that the last two places in the field of 29 will be taken up by continental qualifiers from Oceania and Africa, effectively there are just 27 places up for grabs.

- Our Special Correspondent

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Section  : Sport
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