India's Table Tennis Players Set for Paris Games

Indian table tennis star Manika Batra, seeded 18th, is set to face Great Britain's Anna Hursey in the women's singles opening round at the Paris 2024 Olympics, marking her third Olympic appearance. Veteran player Achanta Sharath Kamal will compete against Slovenia's Deni Kozul, as he prepares for his fifth Olympic Games. The Indian contingent also includes Harmeet Desai and Sreeja Akula, who is seeded 16th and will start against Sweden's Christina Kallberg. This Olympic Games will be significant as it's the first time India has qualified for the team events, with the women's team facing fourth-seeded Romania and the men's team taking on top-ranked China. Gnanasekaran Sathiyan has been named a reserve player after being part of India's gold medal-winning teams in the Commonwealth Games. Manika recently achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 24 after a strong performance at the Saudi Smash.