Nagal confirms his Paris Olympics qualification

Chennai, Jun 22 (PTI) Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal on Saturday confirmed that he has officially qualified for the men’s singles event of the upcoming Paris Olympics.

The Paris Games will be his second stint in the Olympics, having also qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games, where he made it to the second round.

“Extremely glad to share that I have officially qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. This is a monumental moment for me as the Olympics holds a special place in my heart!,” Nagal posted on X.

“One of my career highlights so far was participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Ever since then, Paris has been a big goal for me. Can’t wait to put my best foot forward.”

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) had said that Nagal as per ITF was alternate till June 10, when the rankings were considered for qualification.

Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji will compete in the men’s doubles event at Paris Games. Bopanna, being a top-10 player, had the choice to pick his partner. AITA approved his choice and paired him with Balaji.

Nagal had enhanced qualification chances by winning the Heilbronn Challenger earlier this month as he broke into the top 80 of the ATP singles rankings.

The Heilbronn victory was Nagal’s second Challenger title this season, having prevailed in the Chennai Challenger earlier this year.

The 26-year-old Nagal has been making the waves since the start of the 2024 season as he qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open, where he made it to the second round with an upset win over then world number 37 Alexander Bublik.

He had also qualified for the main draw of the Indian Wells Masters and Monte-Carlo Masters, the ATP 1000 events.