PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen to train in Europe ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics
PV Sindhu will travel to Germany while Lakshya Sen will train in France.
Former world champion PV Sindhu will be in Germany ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics after her proposal for training in Europe was approved by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) on Thursday.
World No. 15 Sindhu will train at the Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule in Saarbrucken for over a month with her coach and support staff before heading to Paris for the Summer Games.
PV Sindhu is set to appear at the Olympics for the third time in her career. She won a silver medal at Rio 2016 and followed it up with a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The 28-year-old Sindhu made a comeback in February following a four-month injury layoff. She is competing at the Malaysia Masters this week.
Meanwhile, world No. 14 shuttler Lakshya Sen, who is slated to compete in the men’s singles badminton event in Paris, will train at the Halle des Sports Parsemain in Marseille, France with his coach and support staff from July 8 to 21 ahead of the Olympic Games.
Both PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen obtained Paris 2024 Olympics quota places for India as per the Race to Paris Ranking List published by the BWF late last month.
NOCs have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games and athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
For badminton in the Olympics, NOCs will have to confirm that they will use the quota places by May 24.
Sen, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, will make his Olympic debut in Paris. He struggled for form in 2023 but reached the semi-finals of the All England Open and the French Open this year.
The MOC also approved proposals of table tennis players Sreeja Akula and Tisha Punia to procure equipment and golfer Aditi Ashok and swimmer Aryan Nehra’s proposals for assistance to travel to various competitions.
Additionally, the MOC also approved the inclusion of table tennis player Harmeet Desai and the women's 4x400 relay team in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme core group, as well as the promotion of wrestlers Nisha (68kg) and Reetika (76kg) to the TOPS core group.
Rising golfer Kartik Singh was also inducted into the TOPS development group with a focus on the 2028 and 2032 Olympics in Los Angeles and Brisbane, respectively.