Indian tennis players Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji will partner each other in the men’s doubles at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, Sumit Nagal has qualified to compete in the men’s singles at the Olympics.
In a media release, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) confirmed the pairing. “The All India Tennis Association (AITA) is thrilled to announce that Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji have qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 in the tennis doubles event. Their journey to the Olympics marks a significant milestone for Indian tennis,” a media statement from the AITA read.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be the 44-year-old Bopanna’s last shot at an Olympic medal.
The selection committee meeting, chaired by former Davis Cup captain Nandan Bal, arrived at a decision to pair Sriram Balaji with Bopanna. The latter too had requested the AITA to give him a partner of his choice for the Summer Games.
Although Balaji is not India’s second-best player after Bopanna, he was given the nod over Yuki Bhambri, who is India’s number two in doubles, due to his ability to move well on the court and a good baseline play. Bopanna is very good at the net and the veteran felt they could make a good pairing.
The Indian doubles team will have Balachandran Manikkath, who is associated with Bopanna’s Sports School in Bengaluru, as the coach, while Rebecca Van Orshaegen will travel with the team as the physiotherapist.
Bopanna, pairing with Australia’s Matthew Ebden, won the Australian Open in January and reached the semifinals at the Roland Garros last week.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be Bopanna’s third Summer Games after the London Games in 2012 and the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. He did not qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Meanwhile, Nagal jumped to a career-best men’s singles ranking of 77 and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nagal won the ATP Challenger title at the Heilbronn Neckarcup in Germany on Sunday and the win, combined with good performances, helped him jump 18 spots in the rankings.
The men’s and women’s singles competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics will have 64 players each, with the to-56 players as per the rankings making the cut for the Olympics. Every country can only have four players competing in the Olympics.
Leander Paes’ bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics is India’s lone medal in men’s singles.
Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi finished fourth at the 2004 Athens Olympics and were ousted in the quarterfinals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Paes and Sania Mirza finished in the quarterfinals stage at the 2012 London Olympics, while Bopanna and Sania came in fourth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
