Gandhinagar: In a remarkable feat, six female players from Gujarat have qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Ahmedabad’s Maana Patel has qualified for the Olympics where she will be representing India in the 100 meters backstroke event. Maana is the first female and the third to qualify for the Olympics.
The Tokyo Olympics commences from July 23.
Maana, 21, has had over 180 medals in her kitty, including 25 international, 72 national and 82 state level achievements.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani congratulated Maana on her qualifying for the games on his Twitter handle on Friday.
“Heartiest congratulations to Maana Patel on her qualifying through Universality Quota for #Tokyo2020. Backstroke swimmer Maana Patel has become the first female and the third Indian swimmer to qualify for #Tokyo2020.
Besides, Ankita Raina has qualified for Tennis and Elavenil Valarivan for Shooting.
The other three females representing India have qualified for the Paralympics — Gandhinagar’s Parul Parmar for badminton, Bhavina Patel for para table tennis and Sonal Patel for para Tennis.
It was 60 years ago that someone from Gujarat represented the country in the Rome Olympics in 1960. Govindrao Sawant played for the hockey team from India. Before that, Shankarrao Thorat represented India in wrestling in the 1936 Olympics.
