FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 6, 2024 Tunisia's Ons Jabeur waves at fans after losing her third round match against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina REUTERS/Hannah Mckay/File Photo
(Reuters) - Tunisia will send its smallest delegation for two decades to the Paris Games with the North African country's two best known elite athletes, swimming champion Ahmed Hafnaoui and tennis star Ons Jabeur, both absent because of health issues.
Tunisian Olympic chief Mehrez Boussiane said the limited participation -- 26 athletes qualified for Paris compared to the team of 63 for Tokyo -- was down to financial difficulties as well as tougher qualification pathways.
"In some sports it is no longer enough to be a continental champion to qualify," the Tunisian Olympic Committee president told Reuters in an interview.
"So you find, for example, that in judo, where we used to qualify at least four athletes, we have a single athlete participating.
"Certainly, the economic and financial difficulties experienced by the country, like the rest of the world, have cast a shadow on the sports sector.
"That is reflected in the programmes of different federations in many specialties, as they find themselves unable to provide adequate and high-quality training for our athletes to enable them to develop their technical levels, in addition to infrastructure problems."
While Jabeur, who competed at the last three Olympics, said in June she would skip Paris because of knee issues, the reason for Hafnaoui's absence is less clear.
The 21-year-old stunned the swimming world by winning the 400 metres freestyle in Tokyo as a teenager and backed that up by winning the 800 and 1,500 double at last year's world championships in Fukuoka.
After a miserable showing at this year's worlds in Qatar, however, there were reports that Hafnaoui was struggling with an unspecified injury as well as mental health issues.
Boussiane said his absence was injury-related and remained convinced that Hafnaoui would again bring honour to his country at future Olympics.
"After he left the United States, where he was training, Hafnaoui faced some health issues that require follow-up," he said.
"Hafnaoui is currently resting and doing light exercises in the hope that he will recover and regain his full fitness for the upcoming events.
"With his young age we expect him to shine not only at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but also at Brisbane 2032 in Australia. I am confident that he will make history as soon as his health improves and we are all behind him for that."
In April this year, it looked like Tunisia's athletes would not be able to compete under their flag in Paris after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) imposed sanctions over the non compliance of the country's anti-doping code.
The ban was lifted in May.
'A PLEASANT SURPRISE'
Tunisians have won 15 Olympic medals -- five gold, three silver and seven bronzes -- since first competing as an independent nation in Rome in 1960.
In Tokyo three years ago, Hafnaoui's gold was supplemented by a silver won by Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi in taekwondo.
Tunisia will again be looking to the martial art for medal success in Paris with Jendoubi and Firas Katoussi among a national record four fighters qualified.
Boussiane has high expectations for Jendoubi and flagged the possibility of "a pleasant surprise" from Katoussi.
As it will for several North African nations, the Olympics will have particular resonance for Tunisia, which was a French colony the last time Paris hosted the Games in 1924.
"It is certain that the Tunisian community in France will play a crucial role in the success of these Games and we hope our delegation will be fully prepared to honour the national flag and create a joyful atmosphere in the capital of lights," he said.
(Reporting by Latifa Guesmi and Ashraf Hamed Atta, editing by Nick Mulvenney and Peter Rutherford)
