Tokyo 2020
Know all the Indian origin players going to Tokyo Olympics
The list includes debutants as well as several veterans who have been playing for their country for the past decade
Sukhi Panesar(source- field hockey Canada)
There are several notable Indian origin athletes headed to the Olympics this year. Hailing from traditional NRI stronghold countries such as Canada. USA and New Zealand, here is a list of all of all Indian origin athletes participating at the Tokyo Olympics.
Canada
Sukhi Panesar- Hockey
The son of Ludhiana born Balbir Singh Panesar, Sukhi and his two brothers Balraj and Manjivan are all Hockey players. Sukhi has previously won silver for Canada at the Pan American Games in 2015. He played for Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics as well and currently plies his trade with English club Beeston.
Keegan Pereira- Hockey
Another Canadian hockey player who is also the son of the famous Reginal Pereira. He is a veteran for the Canadian team and has been competing for them since 2010 when he played in the world cup. He has played in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2018 World Cup and the 2019 Pan American Games where the team won silver. This will be his second Olympics.
Gurpreet Sohi- Water polo
A Stanford University graduate who has majored in human biology, she will be taking part in her first ever Olympics at Tokyo this year. She has experience in the Water Polo World Cup in 2018 as well as the 2017,2018 and 2019 Water Polo World League.
Amar Dhesi- Wrestling
Another sportsperson whose father was an ace sportsperson in India, Amar will be taking part in the 125kg Freestyle category this year. His father was a Greco Roman wrestler and a national champion in India before he migrated to Canada. Amar won Gold at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking event held in Italy this year and qualified for the Olympics with a top two finish at the Pan Am games in 2019.
New Zealand
Jared Panchia- Hockey
His entire family has played Hockey at some time in their lives with his brother Arun also captaining the team earlier. Jared also won silver with the national team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Jared's grandfather migrated from Gujarat to New Zealand in the 1920's and the family has been settled there since. Panchia made his debut for the team in 2013 and was also the youngest squad member at the 2014 World Cup.
USA
Nikhil Kumar- Table Tennis
He made the news earlier last year when he qualified for the Olympics at the age of 17. He first began playing at the age of 2013 and topped the US Olympic trials in 2020. His father hails from Kerala migrated to the USA and helped Nikhil further his passion. He will be one of the youngest ever Table Tennis players to represent America and will also be hoping to break the medal drought of the USA in Table Tennis.
Kanak Jha- Table Tennis
He was only 16 when he took part at Rio 2016 and was the youngest member of the contingent at that time. He will be taking part along with Nikhil Kumar in the Men's singles Table Tennis event. He has won every National title in the US from 2016-2019 and is ranked no. 1. His father hails from Gujarat and his mother is from Mumbai.
Rajeev Ram- Tennis
A familiar name on the Tennis circuit has also won silver at Rio 2016 when he paired up Venus Williams. His parents, Raghav and Sushma Ram hail from Bangalore and Rajeev was brought up in Carmel in Indiana. He is one of the most successful doubles players in the world currently and has won the Australian Open mixed doubles title in 2019 and 2021.
