The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Sports Ministry approved Indian tennis stars Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji's request to fund ATP events ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024 on Wednesday, July 3. The MOC will fund Bopanna and Balaji's two mixed doubles events in Hamburg and Umag before the Paris Games starting on July 26.
India's top-ranked Bopanna has partnered with Balaji for the men's doubles event in Paris after the latter's impressive show on clay in the recent ATP events. Bopanna has partnered with Matthew Ebden for the ongoing Wimbledon 2024 and Balaji picked Great Britain's Luke Johnson in his maiden Wimbledon appearances.
Both Bopanna and Balaji were looking to play together to prepare better for the Summer Olympics and requested the MOC to fund their two ATP tours. The MOC approved their request and the duo will travel to the Hamburg Open 500 (Germany) starting on July 15 and will also participate in the Croatia Open 250 in Umag starting on July 26.
Paris Olympics 2024 will begin on July 26 and the tennis events will kick off on July 29. Rohan Bopanna remains India's best hope for a medal in the men's doubles event in the Paris Games after famously clinching his maiden Grand Slam title in the Australian Open in January this year.
Sumit Nagal has been confirmed to participate in the men's singles events after storming into the top 100 of the ATP rankings this year. Nagal stands an outside chance for a medal with the top tennis stars Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic also confirmed to feature in the Paris Games.
Meanwhile, the MOC also approved requests from Paris-bound shooters Rhythm Sangwan, Sarabjot Singh, Vijayveer, Anish Bhanwala, Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Narukato fund for personal training during the Olympic training camp in Volmerange, France. The MOC also decided to extend its support to the women's 4x100m relay team to procure equipment for training for the Paris Olympics 2024.
