Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced M.C Mary Kom, a renowned boxer, and hockey captain Manpreet Singh will be the flagbearers for the Indian contingent at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. During the closing ceremony, Bajrang Punia will be the flagbearer.
According to the official press release, the Indian contingent will have about 126 participants and 75 officials, while the total number of participants will be 201. There are 56% men and 44% women in the Indian contingent. Indian athletes will compete in 85 medal positions out of 76 quota places.
Olympic games are scheduled for July 23 – August 8 in Tokyo. COVID-19 caused the event to be postponed last year. MC Mary Kom, the six-time world boxing champion, has decided to train in Italy with the rest of the Indian Olympic-bound boxing team to avoid any additional travel restrictions from here to Tokyo as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next few days or so, Mary Kom will fly to Assisi to join the other eight Olympic-bound boxers, who plan to leave for Tokyo from there.
‘I have changed my plans. I have returned to Delhi and will leave for Italy tomorrow or the next day. There are stricter quarantine restrictions on people travelling from India, so I want to avoid them. After training so hard for so long, there is no point in taking a risk as a hard quarantine can break the rhythm,’ said Mary Kom.
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To prepare for the Games starting July 23, the London Olympics bronze medalist has been training at Pune’s Army Sports Institute. The Japanese government asked Indian athletes and officials to undergo daily COVID-19 tests for a week prior to their departure to Tokyo and not interact with anyone from another country for three days upon arrival.
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