Srija Akula and Manika Batra are the top seeded Indian players for the Paris 2024 Olympic table tennis tournament.

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New Delhi: Sreeja Akula (16th) and Manika Batra (18th) are the top-ranked Indian players in the Paris 2024 Olympic table tennis tournament starting July 27.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced the seedings on Tuesday. According to a sheet released by Olympics.com, a total of 67 players are seeded in the men's and women's singles events, while 16 teams are seeded each for both team events.

Last month, Sreeja Akula rose to a career-best 24th in the world table tennis rankings, dethroning Manika Batra as India's highest-ranked women's singles player.

The 25-year-old Sreeja, a two-time national champion, became the first Indian table tennis player to win the WTT Competitive Singles title in Lagos in June. She also won the doubles title partnering Archana Kamath.

Manika Batra, ranked 28th in the world, is just two places below her compatriot at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

A former Commonwealth Games champion, Manika reached the quarterfinals of the Saudi Smash women's singles in May, becoming the first Indian singles table tennis player to reach the last eight of a WTT Grand Smash tournament. Manika will be participating in the Olympics for the third time in a row.

Sharath Kamal is all set to play Olympics for the fifth time. The two-time Commonwealth Games men's singles champion is seeded 24th at the Paris 2024 Olympics. At Tokyo 2020, the 41-year-old veteran was eliminated in the third round, his best finish in an Olympic Games to date.

National champion Harmeet Desai, ranked 86th in the world in men's singles, is seeded 49th. He will make his debut in the Olympics.

Meanwhile, India will make its debut in the team table tennis event at the upcoming Olympics, where it will be joined by four singles players Manav Thakkar (men's team) and Archana Kamath (women's team).

Both men's and women's team events were introduced at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Seeded 14th at Paris 2024, the Indian men's table tennis team is among the top five Asian teams. Manika Batra and Co. are seeded 11th in the women's team event.

All six Indian table tennis players made the cut in their world rankings for Paris 2024. There is no Indian representation in the mixed doubles event, said the press release.

Table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be held from July 27 to August 10. All five events – men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, men's team and women's team – will be played at the South Paris Arena.