Olympic Games: The draws for the table tennis event at the Olympic Games 2024 were announced on Wednesday. India's table tennis star Manika Batra will open her campaign against Great Britain's Anna Hursey in the women's singles opening round while, Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal will face Deni Kozul of Slovenia on July 27.
Manika made history in the Tokyo Olympics when she became the first Indian women's table tennis player to make it to the round of 32 in singles category. She is featured in her third Olympics. The 41-year-old veteran Sharath will be taking part in his fifth Olympic Games.
In the other games, India's Harmeet Desai will kickstart his campaign with a game against Abo Yaman of Jordan in men's singles, while 25-year-old Sreeja Akula, who is seeded 16th, will play her opener against Swedish player Christina Kallberg.
The Indian men's team has been given a hard opener against China in the team event, while the women's team, seeded 11th, will face fourth-seeded Romania to kick-start their campaign. The team winning will straightaway enter the quarterfinals.
The men's team comprises of Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar and national champion Harmeet. Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, who was a member of the Indian men's team during its Commonwealth Games Gold in 2018 and 2022, has been put in the reserve category.
The women's team comprises Manika and Sreeja, and Archana Kamath. Ayhika Mukherjee is the reserve player in the team. The Paris Olympic Games will mark the first time that India will compete in the team event at the Olympics.
