Paris [France], July 25 : Following the announcement of table tennis draws for the Paris Olympics 2024, the Indian team, it is clear, will face a tough test in the opening round of the men's team competition as they are up against four-time gold medalists and defending champion China.
Since the team events were introduced during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China has emerged as champions of the men's team competition in all subsequent editions. On the other hand, India has qualified for the team events in the sport for the first time in their Olympics history, as per Olympics.com.
The women's team will be facing Romania in the round of 16. They could face the Rio Olympics silver medalists Germany in round two.
In the women's singles competition, star player Manika Batra will be locking horns with Great Britain's 18-year-old Anna Hursey in the opening round. In the Tokyo 2020, Manika made it to round three. This would be her third successive Olympic appearance since her debut in 2016.
This will be Anna's Olympic debut. Manika comfortably outranks the teenager at world number 28, with Anna placed at world number 103.
Sreeja Akula, who is the 16th seed in the women's singles competition at Paris 2024, will be taking on Sweden's Christina Kallberg in her round of 64 match to start the campaign. Christina did not have a memorable Tokyo 2020, though, crashing out in the first round of the women's singles competition.
In the men's singles competition, veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal will be facing 27-year-old Deni Kozul of Slovenia to start his campaign. This will be Kamal's fifth Olympic appearance. Harmeet Desai will kickstart his campaign on June 27 with match against Zaid Abo Yaman of Jordan in the preliminary round.
The preliminary rounds will feature three matches for men's and women's singles each and the winners will get their tickets to round of 64. If Harmeet wins, his first main draw opponent will be the world number five from France, Felix Lebrun.
The table tennis competition will take place at Paris from July 27 to August 10, with all five competitionsmen's and women's singles, men's, women's and mixed doubles, set to take place at South Paris Arena.
-PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS TABLE TENNIS: DRAWS FOR INDIAN TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS AND TEAMS
*Men's team
Round of 16: India vs China
*Women's team
Round of 16: India vs Romania
*Men's singles
Preliminary round: Harmeet Desai vs Zaid Abo Yaman (Jordan)
Round of 64: Sharath Kamal vs Deni Kozul (Slovenia)
*Women's singles
Round of 64: Manika Batra vs Anna Hursey (Great Britain)
Round of 64: Sreeja Akula vs Christina Kallberg (Sweden).
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