India to be represented by 117 athletes at Paris Olympics
India will be represented by 117 athletes at this month’s Paris Olympics 2024, according to the sports ministry. The final contingent also includes 140 support staff and officials, 72 of whom “have been approved at cost to the Government” to meet the “requirements” of the traveling athletes.
The only qualified athlete missing from the Paris Olympics 2024 list is shot putter Abha Khatua.
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Abha Khatua eliminated ‘without explanation’
Khatua, who qualified using the world rankings quota, was eliminated without explanation after her name was discovered missing from the World Athletics list of Olympic participants a few days ago.
“The permissible limit for stay of support personnel in the Games Village against accreditation as per norms of the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games is 67 including 11 IOA Contingent Officials, which includes five Medical Team Members,” stated a letter from the ministry to the Indian Olympic Association President P T Usha.
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“For catering to the requirements of the athletes, additional coaches and other support staff numbering 72 have been approved at cost to the Government and arrangements for their stay have been made in Hotels/in locations outside the Games Village,” it added.
Athletics will still have the most members in the contingent, with 29 (11 women and 18 men), followed by shooting (21) and hockey (19).
Table tennis will be represented by eight players, while badminton will have seven athletes, including two-time Olympic medalist P V Sindhu.
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Wrestling (6), archery (6), and boxing (6) will have six representatives each, followed by golf (4), tennis (3), swimming (2), sailing (2), and one each for equestrian, judo, rowing and weightlifting.
India sent 119 people to the Tokyo Olympics and won seven medals, including Neeraj Chopra’s historic javelin throw gold.
