India will send around 111 competitors to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. However, there would certainly be fewer Indian competitors competing this time around than the 124 who competed in the Tokyo Olympics. India would be looking to equal its record seven medal haul from the Tokyo Olympics. Nonetheless, several well-known Indian athletes have stated they will not compete in Paris this year for various reasons. Here, we examine five of these prominent figures.
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Upon becoming the second wrestler from India to earn a silver medal, the guy expressed his disappointment at not getting the gold. He had lost his match at the Asian Olympic qualifying trials in March of this year. Dahiya was only making his comeback from a protracted injury, while Aman Shehrawat, his opponent, was in excellent shape and had medalled in nearly all his competitions in 2023. Shehrawat will compete for India in Paris after winning the 57 kg men's freestyle quota.
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Punia also failed the March 2018 selection trials, much like Dahiya. At the Tokyo Olympics, Punia was the heavy favourite to win gold, thus his bronze in the 65kg weight class was somewhat of a surprise. Punia, a well-known protester against previous WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, lost badly against Rohit Kumar in the men's freestyle 65 kg semifinal at this year's trials, falling short 1-9. The WFI's decision to cancel a second trial following the Asian Olympic qualifiers dealt a fatal blow to Punia and Dahiya's prospects.
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Murali Sreeshankar, in contrast to Punia and Dahiya, had qualified for the Olympics by clearing the qualifying mark of 8.27 metres in the men's long jump at the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, the previous year. He won silver at the tournament with a time of 8.37 metres. However, an injury he suffered during practice in April of this year caused him to rule himself out of the Games and the remainder of the 2024 season.
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For the second time in a row, the former World No. 1 has failed to qualify for the Olympics. Ten of the eleven BWF World Tour events this year, including the All England Open in March, saw Srikanth lose in the first or second round. He did not place among the top 16, which was the required minimum to qualify. To join HS Prannoy as one of just two Indians eligible to participate in men's singles, even if he had made it, he would have needed to place at least one place higher than Lakshya Sen's 13th-place performance.
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At the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian women's hockey team equalled their best-ever performance with a historic fourth-place finish, just missing out on a medal. Even though they were enthusiastically welcomed, there was significant discord on the team after the Tokyo Games when coach Janneke Schopmann effectively shut captain Rani Rampal out of the squad. India had to go through an Olympic qualifying to get tickets to Paris after losing out on gold at the Asian Games. India was the host nation for the qualifications, however, they were eliminated from the top two spots after losing to Germany in a penalty shootout in the opening round. Their chances of competing in a third straight Olympics were dashed when they had to defeat Japan to finish in third place. They lost 1-0.
Also Read: Olympics 2024: India's Top 10 Strongest Medal Contenders
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