'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Indian table tennis player Ayhika Mukherjee met legendary tennis player Novak Djokovic at the Paris 2024 Olympics Village on Sunday (August 4) after the Serbian player won a gold medal. In a post shared on social media, Ayhika can be seen all smiles standing beside Djokovic, who won his first Olympic gold medal by defeating Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with a scoreline of 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
Trending
Ayhika Mukherjee and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan are part of the reserve team in the Indian table tennis contingent in Paris 2024. The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) selected Archana Kamath to be a part of the three-person female table tennis contingent in the Paris 2024 Olympics at the expense of Ayhika.
The other two female paddlers representing India in Paris are Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula. Both Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula have lost in their respective women’s singles event matches in the ongoing Summer Olympic Games.
Decisive in qualification but denied at the Games: Ayhika Mukherjee’s painful Paris 2024 Olympics journey
Ayhika Mukherjee, who previously won a bronze medal at the 2022 Asian Games, was a decisive factor in India securing qualification at the Paris 2024 Olympics. She won four of her six singles matches in the qualification rounds. She even defeated World No. 1 paddler Sun Yingsha of China – who beat Sreeja Akula in the women’s singles event at the Paris Games.
However, as she was not a part of the TOPS core group and had to self-fund her World Table Tennis tours, her rankings dropped due to her participating in a lesser number of tournaments. As a result, she fell behind Kamath in the rankings, who got the nod to start in Paris.
However, Ayhika can take some solace in being a part of the reserve team in India’s debut table tennis campaign at the Olympic Games. It means that if any member of the three-person female contingent falls ill or gets injured, she can possibly be called up to take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
