From India to the world stage: Athletes of Indian heritage look to shine at Paris Games

PTI, Jul 22, 2024, 12:14 PM IST

New Delhi: India would not be limited to the Indian contingent in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
PTI takes a look at some Indian-origin athletes who will be representing their adopted countries at the Paris Games:

Rajeev Ram (Tennis, USA)

Perhaps the most well known athlete on the list. The 40-year-old was born in Denver, USA to parents who migrated from Bangalore.

Steeped in academics, Ram’s father Raghav, who passed away in April 2019, due to pancreatic cancer, was a botanist while his mother Sushma worked as a scientific technician. But Ram chose to break tradition and pursue tennis.

“I am very proud to be of Indian heritage and represent the community in any way I can. In tennis, there are not many of us from the community. Any success that we can achieve as a closed group can inspire the next generation to excel,” Rajeev had once said.

Playing for the USA, Rajeev has achieved considerable success. The tennis doubles specialist won five Grand Slams titles including four men’s doubles and one mixed doubles.

He teamed up with Venus Williams to clinch the mixed doubles 2016 Rio Olympics. He will compete in the men’s doubles event.

Prithika Pavade (Table Tennis, France)

Prithika’s father was born and raised in Puducherry. In 2003, he migrated to Paris after getting married. A year later, Prithika was born in the French capital.

A TT player himself, Prithika’s father introduced her to table tennis when she was six.

At only 16 years old, she participated in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The 19-year-old is studying chemistry and environmental science and will compete in women’s singles, where she has been seeded 12th, the women’s doubles and mixed doubles events.

Kanak Jha (Table Tennis, USA)

Another Indian origin athlete competing at the Paris Games will be USA table tennis player Kanak Jha.

Jha’s mother Karuna is from Mumbai while father Arun was raised in Kolkata and Prayagraj. Both are IT professionals.

Jha’s fascination with table tennis started at the India Community Centre in Milpitas, California. He and his elder sister Prachi, also a TT player, immediately wanted to try out the sport.

In no time he started beating players twice his size. To keep him close to his roots, Jha’s mom enrolled him in a

Jainshala and Hindishala, centres where he could learn Hindi and about Jainism.

The 24-year-old is a four-time U.S. National Champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) and two-time Olympian (2016, 2020).

He was USA’s youngest athlete at the 2016 Rio Olympics and also the first American to win a medal at the Youth Olympics in Argentina in 2018. He will be competing in the men’s singles event at Paris.

Shanti Pereira (Singapore, Athletics)

Known as Singapore’s Sprint Queen, Veronica Shanti Pereira has her roots in Kerala. Her grandparents hailed from Vettukad near Thiruvananthapuram.

But after Shanti’s grandfather got a job in Singapore, the couple migrated from India.

Last year, Pereira ended Singapore’s 49-year-long wait for a track and field medal at the Asian Games, after she clinched a silver in women’s 100m.

Awarded the ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ at the Singapore Sports Awards, Pereira will be one of the Lion City’s two flag-bearers at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

She also has a children’s book — Go Shanti Go! — based on her life, written by her two elder sisters. She will compete in the women’s 100m race in Paris.

Amar Dhesi (Wrestling, Canada)

Amarveer was born in Surrey, British Columbia, a small province on the western coast of Canada to Balbir Dhesi.

A former Greco Roman national champion, Amar’s father belongs to village Sanghwal in district Jalandhar in Punjab. Balbir had trained at the NIS Patiala and even got a job with the Punjab Police but moved to Canada in search of greener pastures in 1979.

Once there, he worked in a sawmill factory and started the Khalsa Wrestling Club for youth in Surrey in 1985.

Amar would attend practice with his dad and older brother Paramveer since he was five and entered his first competition as an eight-year-old.

Amar, who loves to watch London Games bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt’s wrestling videos, made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 where he finished 13th in the men’s 125kg freestyle event.

He won his first senior gold medal a year later at the Pan American Championships and then captured 125kg gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The 28-year-old will compete in the men’s 125kg freestyle event.