Paris 2024: Top Indian athletes who will miss the Olympic Games

The 33rd edition of the Summer Olympics is set to take place from July 26 to August 11 in Paris and 16 other cities in France.

A total of 117 Indian athletes, comprising 70 males and 47 females, are set to compete at the games this year. While the opening ceremony will be held on July 26, certain events such as Rugby 7s, football (group stage), and ranking rounds in archery will start earlier.

However, some of the prominent names who have dominated various sports over the last few years will be missing from the team that will represent India at the Summer Games.

Here is a list of the major misses from India:

Bajrang Punia

After winning a bronze medal in the 65kg category in his Olympic debut in the last edition in Tokyo, Bajrang Punia failed to secure a spot in the contingent travelling to Paris. In March, during selection trials for the Asian Championships and Asian Olympic qualifiers, Punia succumbed to a 1-9 defeat against Rohit Kumar in the semifinals and left without competing in the third-fourth-place bout.

In the following months, he was suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency for refusing to give his urine sample during the selection trials. Last year, he was one of the leading faces in the protest against former Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan, which possibly affected his training in the build-up to the trials.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya will not have a chance to repeat or better his feat in Paris after he lost to 21-year-old Aman Sherawat in the 57kg freestyle category, during the selection trials for the Asian qualifiers.

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Returning from a knee surgery he underwent last year, Dahiya’s late surge in the bout was not enough as Sherawat edged out a 14-13 win. Dahiya’s hopes of one final chance of qualifying for the Games were shattered when the WFI announced that it would not conduct a final selection trial for the Paris Olympics but would send the Olympic quota winners instead.

Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil

Despite securing a 10m air rifle Olympics quota for India by winning gold at the ISSF World Championship in 2022 in Cairo, Egypt, Rudrankksh Patil could not find a place in the 15-member shooting team that will represent India in Paris.

He finished third behind Sandeep Singh and Arjun Babuta in the National Rifle Association of India’s selection trials. As per the guidelines set by the NRAI, the top two finishers from the selection trials will qualify for the Summer Games, even if one or both of the shooters have not won the quota for the country.

Olympic gold medallist and former shooter Abhinav Bindra backed NRAI’s decision and said, “It’s not a call. It’s a matter of decision. There’s a due process laid out and they (NRAI) followed the process”

Tejaswin Shankar

Tejaswin Shankar, who is the national record holder in men’s high jump, did not qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics as he failed to meet the required jump height while also not falling within the required rankings.

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Tejaswin, who won the silver medal in decathlon during the Asian Games in Hangzhou, competed in high jump in five meets this year but managed to reach only 2.23m, well below his personal best of 2.29m and the Olympic qualification mark of 2.33m. He is currently ranked 46th in the world in high jump, which is not enough to book his place among the 32 jumpers that will participate in Paris.

Murali Sreeshankar

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will not feature in the Paris 2024 Olympics after he was ruled out due to injury. The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games silver medallist who qualified for the Paris Games after winning the Asian Championship silver in Bangkok with 8.37m last year, crossing the Olympic entry standard of 8.27m.

The 25-year-old from Palakkad was due to open his season in the Shanghai Diamond League earlier this year, but suffered an injury to his knee during practice in April, forcing him to undergo surgery and bring his season to an early close.

All you need to know about Paris 2024