Six U.S. badminton players have qualified for the Paris Olympics via world rankings.
Tokyo Olympian Beiwen Zhang, ranked 10th in the world in women’s singles, leads the team.
She’s joined by the women’s doubles team of identical twin sisters Annie Xu and Kerry Xu, the men’s doubles team of Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan and the mixed doubles team of Chiu and Jenny Gai.
Rio Olympian Howard Shu could get into the men’s singles field at some point in the next two months, but he did not make it outright based on world ranking.
The Xu sisters are set to become the first twin sisters to compete on a U.S. Summer Olympic team in any sport since 1996 (Betsy and Mary McCagg in rowing and Tami and Toni Jameson in handball), according to Bill Mallon of the OlyMADMen.
The best U.S. Olympic badminton finish was when Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong reached the men’s doubles quarterfinals in 2008 in Beijing.
In Tokyo, Zhang won both of her group-stage matches in sweeps, then was leading her round of 16 match when she had to retire due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.
