72 members of support staff have been approved at government expense.

Paris Olympics 2024: 117 players from India will participate in the Paris Olympics. Apart from this, the Sports Ministry has also approved 140 members of the support staff, which also includes sports officials. 72 members of the support staff have been approved at government expense.

Among the players who qualified for the Olympics, only shot put athlete Abha Khatua's name is not in the list. No explanation has been given for the removal of the name of Abha Khatua, who had secured a quota through the world rankings. A few days ago, her name was removed from the World Athletics' list of players participating in the Olympics.

There is no information yet as to whether his name has been removed due to injury, doping violation or any other technical issue.

Other players who qualified for the Olympics got approval as expected. London Olympics bronze medalist former shooter Gagan Narang has been made the team chief. Narang is also the vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

In a letter written by the Sports Ministry to IOA President PT Usha, it is said, “As per the norms of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games 2024, only 67 members of the support staff can stay in the sports village, which also includes 11 officials of the IOA. Five members of the officials are from the medical team.

The letter said, “To meet the needs of the players, 72 additional coaches and other support staff have been approved at government cost and their accommodation has been arranged in hotels-places outside the Games Village.”

Despite Abha Khatua's name not being included in the list of players, athletics has the highest number of players (11 women and 18 men) at 29. They are followed by shooting (21) and hockey (19).

Eight players from India will participate in table tennis while seven players, including two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, will participate in badminton.

Wrestling (6), Archery (6) and Boxing (6) will have six players each competing in the Olympics. Golf (4), Tennis (3), Swimming (2), Sailing (2) are next. One player each will participate in Equestrian, Judo, Rowing and Weightlifting.

The shooting team comprises 11 women and 10 men players. Table tennis includes four players each in both men's and women's categories.

Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu is the only weightlifter in the team. She will compete in the women's 49kg category.

India had 119 athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympics who won seven medals. This includes Neeraj Chopra's historic gold medal in javelin throw. Chopra will defend his title in Paris.

Out of the 21 officials in the team, 11 will stay in the Games Village while the rest will stay in a hotel outside the Games Village. Their expenses will be borne by the government.

Shooting has the maximum number of 18 members of the support staff, of which one high performance director and six coaches will stay in the Games Village. The remaining 11 members will stay in the hotel, which includes four coaches, four physios, two psychologists and one conditioning specialist.

Athletics has 17 members of support staff, followed by wrestling (12), boxing (11), hockey (10), table tennis (9), badminton (9), golf (7), equestrian (5), archery (4), rowing (4), weightlifting (4), tennis (3), swimming (2) and judo (1).

The ministry letter said that Air Commodore Prashant Arya, posted as Air Attache at the Indian Embassy in Paris, will be the Olympic Attache, holding a letter of accreditation and will visit the Games Village and competition venues to resolve any issue requiring embassy assistance and intervention. (pti)

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