Santoo Shrestha on Wednesday made history by becoming the first Nepali table tennis player to qualify for the Olympics.

Shrestha qualified for the men’s singles table tennis competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics after he defeated his compatriot Samyog Kapali 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 in the final of the 2024 South Asian Qualification Tournament, which was held in Table Tennis Training Centre in Kathmandu.

The 2024 Olympics is scheduled to be held from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.

Shrestha had defeated Sri Lanka’s Chameera Ginige 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8 to enter the gold medal match, while Kapali was a 13-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7 winner against Jayasanka De Silva, also from Sri Lanka.

Shrestha also became the third Nepali player to qualify for the Olympics after Sangina Baidhya at Athens 2004 and Deepak Bista in Beijing 2008. Both Baidhya and Bista are taekwondo players and practitioners.

Nepal will be making its 15th appearance at the Summer Olympics since making a debut in 1964.

Track and field athlete Santoshi Shrestha and badminton player Prince Dahal will also represent Nepal at Paris 2024.

Santoshi and Dahal gained entry into the Olympics after receiving universality spots.

Santoshi will participate in the women's marathon while Dahal will compete in the men's singles badminton event.

Dahal will be the first badminton player from Nepal to participate at the Olympics.