HIGHLIGHTS

• India’s Sania, Ankita will face Nadiia and Lyudmyla of Ukraine in Round 1
• Sania is set to become first female athlete to represent India at 4 Olympics
• In men’s event, Sumit Nagal will face Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in opening round

India’s women’s doubles team of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will start their campaign against Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine in the opening round of the women’s doubles event atTokyo Olympics.

Interestingly, Mirza had paired up with Nadiia after returning from her maternity leave to win the Hobart Open last year.

Sania,34, is now set to become the first female athlete to represent India at the four Olympics, while it will be a debut for Ankita Raina at the showpiece event.

Sania had played the last three Olympics in Beijing, London and Rio with Sunitha Rao, Rushmi Chakravarthi and Prarthana Thombare, respectively.

Sumit Nagal to face Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin

Meanwhile, Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal will face Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in the opening round of the men’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympics, starting Friday.

Nagal, who qualified for the Games last week after large-scale withdrawals, was pitted against the lower-ranked Uzbek in the draw on Thursday.

A first-round win for the 23-year-old Indian, ranked 160, could see him face second-seeded Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who takes on Alexander Bublik in his opening round match.

agal will enter the Olympics with some disappointing results this season as he has suffered seven first round defeat on the Circuit, including at the Australian Open.

In six Challenger events, he made the quarterfinals only thrice.

His best performance has been making the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires in March.

His ranking has dropped to 160 after beginning the year at 137.