India will not be limited to the Indian contingent in the upcoming 2024 Olympics.
Several athletes of Indian heritage will represent their adopted countries at the Paris Olympic Games.
This includes Rajeev Ram, Prithika Pavade, Kanak Jha, Shanti Pereira, and Amar Dhesi.
Here are short profiles of some Indian-origin athletes representing their adopted countries at the Paris Games:
Rajeev Ram (Tennis, USA)
Rajeev Ram, 40, was born in Denver, USA, to parents who migrated from Bengaluru. His father, Raghav, a botanist, passed away in April 2019 due to pancreatic cancer, and his mother, Sushma, worked as a scientific technician.
Ram chose tennis over a traditional academic path.
“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.
Rajeev has had considerable success playing for the USA. He has won five Grand Slam titles, including four men's doubles and one mixed doubles.
He teamed up with Venus Williams to clinch the mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He will compete in the men's doubles event.
Prithika Pavade (Table Tennis, France)
Prithika Pavade’s father was born and raised in Puducherry in India. He migrated to Paris in 2003 after getting married, and Prithika was born in the French capital a year later.
Her father, a table tennis player, introduced her to the sport when she was six.
At 16, she participated in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Now 19, she is studying chemistry and environmental science and will compete in women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles events.
She is seeded 12th in women's singles.
Kanak Jha (Table Tennis, Canada)
Kanak Jha's mother, Karuna, is from Mumbai, while his father, Arun, was raised in Kolkata and Prayagraj in India. Both are IT professionals.
Jha's interest in table tennis started at the India Community Centre in Milpitas, California. He and his sister, Prachi, also a table tennis player, quickly took to the sport.
Jha, 24, is a four-time US National Champion (2016-2019) and a two-time Olympian (2016, 2020).
He was the USA’s youngest athlete at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the first American to win a medal at the Youth Olympics in Argentina in 2018.
He will compete in the men’s singles event in Paris.
Shanti Pereira (Singapore, Athletics)
Veronica Shanti Pereira, known as Singapore’s Sprint Queen, has her roots in Kerala. Her grandparents migrated to Singapore after her grandfather got a job there.
Last year, Pereira ended Singapore’s 49-year wait for a track and field medal at the Asian Games by winning silver in the 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 will compete in the women’s 100m race.
Amar Dhesi (Wrestling, Canada)
Amar Dhesi was born in Surrey, British Columbia, to Balbir Dhesi, a former Greco-Roman national champion from Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
Balbir moved to Canada in 1979, worked in a sawmill factory, and started the Khalsa Wrestling Club in Surrey in 1985.
Amar began wrestling at a young age, entering his first competition at eight. He made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, finishing 13th in the men’s 125kg freestyle event.
He won his first senior gold at the Pan American Championships and another gold in the 125kg category at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
He will compete in the men’s 125kg freestyle event in Paris.
Nat Sciver-Brunt
