India will be represented by 117 athletes at this month's Paris Olympics after the sports ministry cleared the final contingent that also features 140 support staff and officials, of which 72 have been approved at "cost to the government" to meet the "requirements" of the travelling sportspersons.The only qualified athlete missing from the list is shot-putter Abha Khatua. The Games will run from July 26 to August 11. Khatua, who made the cut through world rankings quota, has been dropped without any explanation after her name was found missing from the World Athletics' list of Olympic participants a few days ago.
Athletics is the biggest group in the contingent with 29 of them (11 women and 18 men) representing the country followed by shooting (21) and Hockey (total of 19 players). Seven Badminton players are part of the contingent while 8 Table Tennis players will take part at the Olympics for India."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," a letter from the ministry to the Indian Olympic Association President P T Usha stated.
India will participate across 20 sporting disciplines with one player participating in each of equestrian, judo, rowing and weightlifting. Moreover, the contingent this time around at the Olympics is two less than the Tokyo Olmypics when a total of 119 athletes participated bringing India a total of seven medals.
Newsinc24 Team
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