NEW DELHI: Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova has withdrawn from the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris 2024 due to a hand injury.

The 25-year-old Czech tennis player announced her decision on Monday, saying she has been suffering from persistent problems with her hand, which prevents her from competing.

Like Vondrousova, Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz has also withdrawn from the Olympic Games in Paris after suffering a knee injury during his second-round match at Wimbledon earlier in July.

“I am very sorry, but due to health reasons I will not participate in the Olympic Games in Paris this year. I hoped until the last moment that I would be able to play at least in doubles, but problems with my hand do not allow me to go on court,” Vondrousova posted on Instagram.

Despite the rehabilitation, Hurkacz has not recovered enough to participate in the Games.

“My rehabilitation is going very well and I am constantly making progress. However, my team and I have decided that I will not be able to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris. This was a very, very difficult decision, because I have always dreamed of representing Poland at the Olympic Games and winning a medal for the national team, but unfortunately my health does not allow it this year,” Hurkacz said in a video posted on Instagram.

Vondrousova’s withdrawal is particularly notable because she reached the women’s final at the Tokyo Olympics as an unseeded player, where she eventually lost to ninth-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic.

Bencic, who gave birth to a daughter in April, will also not be in Paris because she cannot defend her Olympic title.

In Vondrousova’s absence, Katerina Siniakova, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in women’s doubles and nine-time Grand Slam champion in the same event, will replace her in the singles competition. Linda Noskova will partner Karolina Muchova in the doubles.

Other notable absentees from the tennis events at the Paris Olympics include world number three Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, Emma Raducanu, Ben Shelton and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, who won the bronze medal in the men’s singles at the Tokyo Games.