The 9-man Indian badminton team will head to the Tokyo Olympics on July 17

The nine-man Indian badminton team will set off Tokyo Olympics July 17. All nine members of the team, including four players, will first arrive in Delhi from Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon.

After arriving in Delhi, the team will take a late night flight to Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympic badminton competition is scheduled to be held from July 24 to August 2. The postponed Summer Olympics will begin on July 23.

Rio Olympic silver medalist PV Sindu, Men’s singles B Cypress Men’s doubles combination Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are currently training under the guidance of their respective coaches in Hyderabad.

Five support staff will accompany the players. Sindhu’s South Korean coach Park Tae-Sang, Indonesia’s Sai Praneeth’s coach Agus Dwi Santosa and Denmark’s doubles coach Mathias Boe are all part of the team. Physiotherapists Sumansh Sivalanka and Evangeline Baddam are the other two members.

The badminton team will be part of the first group to go to Tokyo

The badminton team will be part of the first Indian athletes and officials to go to the Japanese capital. According to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the men’s and women’s hockey teams, as well as archery and swimming teams are also scheduled to take off on July 17.

The Indian delegation for the Tokyo Olympics will set off in batches. Except for the first batch, other dates have not yet been determined. According to Olympic regulations, athletes can only enter Tokyo five days before the competition and leave no later than 48 hours after the competition.

Sindhu’s physiotherapist Evangeline Baddam said that the ace shuttle is in good health and would like to set off. Badam, who will participate in her first Olympic Games, said:

“Sindu is totally fine. We got the final travel plan for Tokyo today. We will depart from Hyderabad for Delhi on Saturday. The Tokyo flight from Delhi is at 11pm. We are all excited about the Olympics.”

Senior officials of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) may meet with players and coaches in New Delhi before heading to Tokyo. BAI Secretary-General Ajay Kumar Singhania said in an interview with Sportskeeda on Monday:

“We plan to meet them in person and wish them good luck. However, due to the strict COVID-19 agreement, we are not sure whether we will be allowed to meet with them. If we are allowed, some BAI officials will certainly pay tribute to the team members, And give them a proper farewell.”

According to Olympic regulations, all athletes travelling from India to Tokyo must be quarantined for a few days. From July 19, the Olympic Badminton Stadium will be open to athletes for practice.