Paris Olympics: Who Are The Key Indian Athletes Absent from the Summer Games?

In less than a month, the highly anticipated 2024 Paris Olympics will commence in the heart of the French capital.

In recent editions, the presence of Indian athletes at the Summer Olympics has been steadily growing. Continuing this trend, India is set to send a contingent of nearly 120 athletes this time. Among them are newcomers to this quadrennial event, alongside seasoned veterans. However, there are also notable absences from the Olympic arena this year.

Who are these athletes? Let's explore the Indian contenders who will not be participating in the Summer Games and their respective reasons:

Pranati Nayak  -Gymnastics

Tokyo Olympian and gymnast Pranati Nayak's dream of representing her nation at the 2024 Paris Olympics was dashed when she couldn’t secure a spot through the FIG Apparatus World Cup 2024 series, which served as qualifying events for the Olympics.

Pranati began her quest for a place in Paris at the inaugural World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, in February 2024, where she impressively clinched third place in the vault event. However, her journey hit a snag at the subsequent World Cup in Cottbus, Germany, as she was unable to participate because the federation did not field a team for that event.

Returning to compete in the Baku leg, Pranati faced challenges, finishing in 9th place. Her efforts in the Doha leg also fell short, as she failed to qualify for the final, ending 11th in the qualifying round.

Ravi Dahiya - Wrestling

Tokyo Olympics silver medalist wrestler Ravi Dahiya's dreams of competing in the Paris Olympics were abruptly halted in May when the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) decided not to hold a final trial. Instead, the WFI confirmed that the six wrestlers who secured a quota by winning the earlier trials in March 2024 would represent India.

Ravi faced defeat in the Sonipat trials, where he vied for a spot on the Indian squad for the Olympic qualifiers. Despite making a determined comeback following a prolonged injury break, he was ousted by Udit in the men's 57kg category trials.

Nitu Ghangas - Boxing

Commonwealth gold medalist boxer Nitu Ghangas missed out on qualifying for the Paris Summer Games. Despite being a world champion in the 48 kg weight class, which is not included in the Paris Olympics, Nitu had to transition to the 54 kg category for qualification.

This shift left her without a spot in the Games, as she was edged out by Preeti Pawar, who secured a place on the Hangzhou 2023 squad and subsequently for the Olympics..

Parveen Hooda - Boxing

Pugilist Parveen Hooda, who won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships and secured an Olympic quota in the 57kg category through an Asian Games bronze last year, failed to comply with WADA rules by not reporting her whereabouts from April 2022 to March 2023.

"Parveen Hooda has been suspended for 22 months by the International Testing Agency (ITA) for Whereabouts Failures," the Boxing Federation of India said in a media release.

Murali Sreeshankar - Athletics

Long jumper M. Sreeshankar, a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, was compelled to withdraw from competition for the entire season, including the Paris 2024 Olympics, due to a knee injury sustained during training.

The 25-year-old athlete from Palakkad had secured his spot for the Paris Olympics right when qualifications opened on 1 July, 2023. He achieved this by winning silver at the Asian Championships in Bangkok with a leap of 8.37m (surpassing the Olympic entry standard of 8.27m) on 15 July.

Bhavani Devi - Fencing

The six-member Indian fencing team, led by Tokyo Olympian Bhavani Devi failed to secure any Paris 2024 Olympics quotas at the Asia Oceania Zonal Qualifiers held in Fujairah, UAE.

Bhavani Devi, who made history as the first Indian fencer at Tokyo 2020 three years ago, was seeded highest in the women’s sabre event at the Fujairah competition.

She advanced to the quarter-finals with a 15-8 victory over Juliet Jie Min Heng of Singapore but fell short in the semi-finals, losing 15-12 to Chu Wing Kiu of Hong Kong China. Only the winners of each event earned Olympic quotas for their respective countries.

Mixed Doubles Table-Tennis Team

India's Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra missed their opportunity to secure a quota for Paris 2024 at the World Mixed Doubles Table Tennis Olympic Qualification tournament in Havirov, Czechia.

Then ranked 18th in the latest ITTF mixed doubles world rankings, the Indian duo suffered a 4-1 defeat (11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8) in the quarter-finals against Malaysia's Javen Choong and Karen Lyne. Batra and Sathiyan had received a bye in the round of 16 of their knockout bracket.

Women's Hockey Team

Following their historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian women’s hockey team faced disappointment when their dreams of qualifying for the Paris Olympics were dashed.

They lost the crucial third-fourth classification match against Japan during the FIH Women's Qualifier in Ranchi in January where they needed a victory over Japan to secure an Olympic quota but was defeated 1-0 in the match.

Mixed 4x400m Relay Team

The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team fell short of qualifying for the Paris Olympics, despite setting a national record, by just one second on the final day of the National Inter-State Championships.

India participated with two teams, A and B, in the mixed 400m relay event, which also included invited teams from Sri Lanka and Maldives as per the Athletics Federation of India (AFI)'s arrangement to ensure their timings counted for world ranking purposes.