The Barcelona Spain Masters kicked off on Tuesday 18th February 2020 as Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth aim to keep their Olympic goals alive as they compete in the Barcelona Spain Masters tournament with a price of USD 170,000 to be won.

The brilliant duo has shown a lot of consistency last year [2019] but has, however failed to enjoy a bright start to the new year.

Saina has found herself going beyond just the first round in of the three events this year [2020] while Srikanth has failed to go past a shot in all of the three tournaments he was involved in so far this year.

It has not been rosy for them on the rankings either as Srikanth and Saina are currently ranked 15th and 18th, respectively. However, they are further being placed down the pecking order in the race for the Tokyo rankings as they occupy the 22nd and 26th positions. This was based on their points accumulated in the tournament played during the whole of 2019.

It is a stated rule in the BWF Olympic qualification that only two players from each singles category can qualify if they rank between the top 16 by the end of April

The Indians who have almost secured qualifications for a place in the Tokyo games are World Champion P.V Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Sai Praneeth, and Chirag Shetty.

Following the Olympic qualification cutoff date which is set to lapse at the end of April, there are only seven tournaments [which includes the Barcelona Spain Masters ] left in the calendar, and the India shuttlers must produce an outstanding performance to revive any hopes to earn a ticket for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Saina, who is a London bronze medalist winner, is on course to secure a fourth Olympics appearance and will face Yvonne Like from Germany. While Srikanth will face her fellow compatriot Subhankar Dey.

Written by: Olumide Akinnifesi