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Spanish paddler Dvorak called up to Rio Olympics on French Grundisch's withdrawal

Xinhua, July 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spaniard Galia Dvorak earned a last-minute call-up to the Rio Olympic Games table tennis women's singles event after French player Carole Grundisch withdrew due to injury, announced the organizers on Friday.

The two-times Olympian will join teammates He Zhiwen and Shen Yanfei to take Spain's total number of players to three in table tennis competitions and it will be Dvorak's first time to appear in the singles.

In both Beijing 2008 and London 2012, the 28-year-old, who was born in Ukraine but moved to Spain with her family at two years old, was a member of the Spanish squad in women's team event.

Dvorak, sitting on the 95th in the world's governing body ITTF's rankings, thus came out the fifth paddler representing Spain to compete in a women's singles event at an Olympic Games.

She replaces Grundisch after the 29-year-old Frenchwoman fell off her bicycle in Paris on Wednesday to break her arm.

Grundisch posted a video on Facebook in which she revealed her heartbreak at missing out on what would have been her first Olympic Games. Endit