Indian Table Tennis Stars Ready for Paris 2024: Akula, Batra Lead the Charge

Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra are the highest-seeded Indian table tennis players for the Paris 2024 Olympics, beginning July 27. India will also debut in team events. Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai will join them, marking a significant milestone in Indian table tennis history.

Sreeja Akula (16th) and Manika Batra (18th) are the highest-seeded Indian players at the Paris 2024 Olympics table tennis tournament, set to begin on July 27. The latest seeding announcement was made by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday. Each of the men's and women's singles competitions feature 67 seeded players, while both team events consist of 16 seeded teams, confirmed a release by Olympics.com.

Last month, Sreeja Akula achieved a career-high No. 24 in the world table tennis rankings, surpassing Manika Batra as India's top women’s singles player. The 25-year-old, a two-time national champion, made history as the first Indian to win a WTT Contender singles title in Lagos in June. She also clinched the doubles title alongside Archana Kamath.

World No. 28 Manika Batra, once a Commonwealth Games champion, is seeded just two spots below Akula for the Paris 2024 Olympics. In May, she made history by reaching the Saudi Smash women's singles quarterfinals, becoming the first Indian to accomplish the feat in a WTT Grand Smash event. Paris 2024 will mark Batra’s third consecutive Olympic appearance.

Sharath Kamal is poised to make his fifth Olympic appearance, seeded 24th in the upcoming games. The two-time Commonwealth Games men's singles champion reached the third round at Tokyo 2020, his best Olympic finish to date. National champion Harmeet Desai, ranked 86th globally, is seeded 49th and will be making his Olympic debut.

India will also debut in team table tennis events at Paris 2024, with the four singles players being joined by Manav Thakkar (men's team) and Archana Kamath (women's team). Both the men's and women's team events were first introduced at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

At Paris 2024, the Indian men's team is seeded 14th, ranking among the top five Asian squads. The women’s team, led by Manika Batra, is seeded 11th. All six Indian table tennis players secured their spots via world rankings, and there is no Indian participation in the mixed doubles category, the release added.

Table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be held from July 27 to August 10 at the South Paris Arena, featuring competitions in five categories – men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, men's team, and women's team. (ANI)