Jwala, Diju among 5 Indians for Olympics badminton

Parupalli Kashyap's participation in the men's singles and Jwala Gutta's entry in the women's and mixed doubles at the London Olympics badminton event were confirmed after the world rankings were issued on Thursday.

This is the first time in the history of the Olympics that an Indian badminton doubles pairing has a direct entry.

In the 1992 Barcelona Games, Vimal Kumar and Dipankar Bhattacharjee played in the singles and men's doubles. Though they qualified only in singles, they were given an entry in the doubles event as well.

As for Jwala, she is the first Indian to qualify for two categories -- mixed and women's doubles -- in the Olympics.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has already qualified for the Games though she lost in the second round of last week's Indian Open Super Series.

Thus, five Indian shuttlers will feature at the London Olympics.

Jwala and her doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa rose four places to number 16th in Thursday's rankings, which ensured them a London berth.

In the mixed doubles, Jwala and V Diju climed a rung, and at 14th made the cut.

But the highest mover was Kashyap, who jumped six places to 24th after a strong performance at the Indian Open, where he reached the semi-finals.

Before the tournament, Kashyap was 1000 points behind Ajay Jayaram, who was the highest-ranked Indian then.

Kashyap needed to win at least two rounds more than Jayaram to qualify for the Games, which he did. He entered the semi-finals while Jayaram lost in the second round.

Jayaram now occupies the 26th place, up one rung from the previous chart.