Not everyone from the India contingent would be participating in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, especially those athletes who will be playing a match the next day
Just six officials from the contingent will be participating in the event, which will be held on Friday.
During a recent interview with the PTI, Prem Kumar Verma, Deputy Chief-De-Mission said that all those athletes who have their matches scheduled for the next day of the opening ceremony are not going to participate in the ceremony.
India athletes to not participate in the opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics 2021
During a recent interview with PTI, Rajeev Mehta, secretary general of Indian Olympic Association, said, “Not all the athletes would be there for the ceremony so as to keep the COVID-19 protocols in mind. Kam se Kam athletes ko utara jaaega.”
A total of 120 athletes is going to represent India in games, although the contingent consists of 228 members, which includes officials, coaches, support staff etc. After the meeting, Verma, during an interview with inside sport said, “It has been decided that six officials from each country is allowed in the ceremony but there is no limit on athletes. The ceremony is going to last till midnight, so its better that they rest for their matches the next day.”
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Indian Players who are going to miss the opening ceremony
Players like 10m air pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Apurvi Chandela, Elavanil Valarivan, have their matches on the first day of the Olympics and are going to give the ceremony a miss and athletes like Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal, Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar will also be missing it as they have their matches on the second day.
The Indian contingent consist of eight rifle, five pistol, two skeet shooters and six coaches and a physiotherapist is staying in Tokyo. In the pre-COVID days, the shooters used to have the more success in the tournament, as compared to other sportsperson and were also the top finishers in the table during the 2019 four ISSF world cups.
What did the officials say?
During a recent interview with Inside sport, BP Baishya, Chef-De-Mission, said, “The decision about the number of players participating in the ceremony would be announced on Thursday. Boxers, archers, and both the hockey teams have their matches scheduled on the first day of the event.”
During a recent interview with PTI, a source close to the boxing contingent said, “Boxers who don’t have their matches on Saturday can participate in the ceremony.”
Meanwhile, Manpreet Singh, Captain of the Men’s hockey team and MC Mary Kom, six-time world champion woman boxer would be representing as flag bearers for India in the opening ceremony.
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