Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra highest-seeded Indian players at Olympics

Sreeja Akula (16th) and Manika Batra (18th) are the highest-seeded Indian players at the Paris 2024 Olympics table tennis tournament, which begins on July 27. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) revealed the seedings on Tuesday, noting that 67 players are seeded in each of the men’s and women’s singles competitions, while 16 teams are seeded for both team events, as per Olympics.com.

Last month, Sreeja Akula reached a career-best No. 24 in the world rankings, surpassing Manika Batra as India’s top women’s singles player. The 25-year-old Sreeja, a two-time national champion, made history by becoming the first Indian to win a WTT Contender singles title at Lagos in June. She also secured the doubles title with partner Archana Kamath.

World No. 28 Manika Batra, seeded just two places below Sreeja at Paris 2024, is a former Commonwealth Games champion. In May, Manika reached the Saudi Smash women’s singles quarterfinal, becoming the first Indian to make the last eight of a WTT Grand Smash event. Paris 2024 will mark her third consecutive Olympic appearance.

Veteran Sharath Kamal, making his fifth Olympic appearance, is seeded 24th. The two-time Commonwealth Games men’s singles champion achieved his best Olympic finish at Tokyo 2020, reaching the third round. National champion Harmeet Desai, ranked 86th globally, is seeded 49th and will debut at the Olympics.

India will also debut in the team table tennis events at the upcoming Olympics, with the four singles players joined by Manav Thakkar (men’s team) and Archana Kamath (women’s team). The men’s team is seeded 14th, making it one of the top five Asian teams, while the women’s team is seeded 11th.

All six Indian table tennis players qualified for Paris 2024 through their world rankings. There will be no Indian representation in the mixed doubles tournament.

Table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics will take place from July 27 to August 10, with all five events – men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s team, and women’s team – being held at the South Paris Arena.