75 Indian sportsmen are going to Athens. But there are several familiar names — sure shots a year ago — who will not be making it. Beginning today, a look at those who won’t be on the bus

PAST RECORD: Winner of the All-England Badminton Championship 2001; lost in quarter-finals at Manchester Commonwealth Games 2002; lost in quarter-finals at Busan Asian Games 2002.

OLYMPIC HISTORY: Lost in pre-quarterfinals at Sydney Olympic Games 2000.

WHY HE DIDN’T GET THE TICKET: The qualification is based on world rankings and his has dropped to 131.

WHAT ABOUT BEIJING: No way. The Olympic dream is over for me. I am 30 now and will shift to coaching when my academy starts functioning sometime next year here in Hyderabad.

A WORD FOR THE QUALIFIERS: Only 32 shuttlers from the world qualify for the Olympics but, after going through their recent track record, I seriously don’t think that Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Nikhil Kanetkar and Aparna Popat will fetch Olympic medals for the country. It’s a different ball game altogether. However, I also believe that just two good matches are all what are needed to get yourself in contention for a podium finish. Miracles have happened in the past, my good wishes are with them.

— Ateet Sharma

GOPISPEAK

It’s all because I have been out of action since October last year due to my fourth knee surgery. I only returned to the circuit in Canada a few months back and there was no way I could’ve qualified for the Olympics in such short duration. Yes, I regret missing the Games, but just being there doesn’t mean much to me as actually winning a medal for the country is.