Top Indian men's doubles shuttler Manu Attri today sounded upbeat about his and partner B Sumeeth Reddy's chances of booking a qualifying spot at the August 5-21 Rio Olympic Games although they are currently ranked 17th in the world.
"We are the world no. 17 and the top 13 in the world rankings (from countries outside Americas, Australia and Africa) at the cut-off date in first week of May) will qualify. We are no. 9 in Olympic ranking (as only a maximum of two pairs from each country can qualify)," said Attri who is to play for Mumbai Rockets in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) commencing here tomorrow.
Attri's confidence stems from the fact that in the current world men's doubles rankings there are more than two pairs from China (5), Korea (3) and Indonesia (3) in the top 13 and more pairs from Japan, Indonesia, China and Denmark (who have two pairs ahead of the Indian duo) behind the Indian duo in the top 25.
Attri, who has now started playing mixed doubles with Ashwini Ponnappa, said the title triumph for the duo in Mexico fetched them 5500 points and boosted their rankings.
The doubles specialist also said he would learn a lot many things when playing with a top doubles specialist like Mathias Boe in the PBL.
Attri also said the appointment of the specialist Malaysian coach for doubles players by the Badminton Association of India has been a big plus.
"It's been a big help to the players. Technically he (Tan Kim Her) is very good and very intelligent. We have worked very hard over the last two months under him.
