The reigning badminton women's doubles Olympic champion pair Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing, as well as current world No. 9 Wang Shixian have been left out of the Chinese 2016 Olympic squad that is bound to compete in the upcoming sporting event in Rio de Janeiro this August.

The Chinese duo, which presently holds the third-highest women's doubles ranking in the world, will not be able to defend their gold medal at next month's Olympic Games as the China's National Olympic Committee (NOC) has withdrawn their entry.

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Wang along with Zhao's women's double partner Tian was not listed on the final 15-player roster named for the 2016 Rio Games earlier this week, according to BadmintonPlanet.

Zhao will be competing in the prestigious quadrennial sporting event to defend her mixed doubles Olympic title with Zhang Nan. The current world No. 7 pair Luo Ying and Luo Yu has been chosen to represent China at the said event in Rio instead.

"I received the notification a few days ago. I totally respect that decision since Zhao Yunlei has to play in mixed doubles also, it's hard for her to compete in two events simultaneously," Tian said. "I'm already mentally prepared to be excluded from the selection."

According to The Times of India, the 2016 Yonex German Open women's singles champion Wang Shixian did not make it to the final cut for the second time around. The Asian badminton powerhouse has kept faith in the country's top two female shuttlers world No. 3 Li Xuerui  and world No. 2 Wang Yihan, who were the gold and silver medalist in the last 2012 London Olympics.

Here is a list of badminton players for 2016 Chinese Olympic squad:
Men's singles: Chen Long, Lin Dan
Women's singles: Wang Yihan, Li Xuerui
Men's doubles: Zhang Nan/Fu Haifeng, Chai Biao/Hong Wei
Women's doubles: Yu Yang/Tang Yuanting, Luo Ying/Luo Yu
Mixed doubles: Zhan Nan/Zhao Yunlei, Xu Chen/Ma Jin

TagsWang Shixian, Tian and Zhao, bwf rankings, Rio Olympics 2016, Li Xuerui, wang yihan