The qualifying period for the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympic Games came to an end on Thursday, and the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has released an updated rankings for last week on their official website.

According to The Indian Express, a total of seven Indian professional shuttlers have made the cut for the much anticipated and biggest sporting event of the year that will be hosted by Brazil this coming August with two participants to compete in the women's singles event.

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The 2012 Summer Olympics women's singles bronze medalist Saina Nehwal and compatriot PV Sindhu will be representing India in the women's singles category. Carolina Marin of Spain, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand and Li Xuerui of China are the female badminton players who finished as the top three in the world in the latest ranking released by the BWF.

In the men's singles category, Chen Long remains the world's top male badminton player while the recently crowned Asian champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia keeps the second place. Meanwhile, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion Lin Dan of China continued to be in the third spot in the world ranking.

According to the BWF, the competition will consists of 38 players each for the men's singles and women's singles, while there will be 16 pairs for the men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Badminton is scheduled to take place on August 11 to 20 at the Pavilion 4 of Riocentro with a seating capacity of 6,500.

TagsLin Dan, Chen Long, Lee Chong Wei, bwf 2016, bwf rankings, saina nehwal, pv sindhu