Olympic-bound first batch athletes of India leaves for Tokyo in presence of Sports Minister Anurag Thakur

The first batch of Olympic-bound athletes leaves for Tokyo ahead of the event, on Saturday in the presence of Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.

The first batch of Olympic-bound athletes from India leaves for Tokyo ahead of the event from eight disciplines at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the existence of Sports Minister Anurag Thakur who was accompanied by Minister of State for Sports, Nisith Pramanik, Sports Authority of India Director-General Sandip Pradhan and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials involving President Narinder Batra and Secretary-General Rajeev Mehta.

A group that had 88 members included 54 sportspeople besides support faculty and IOA representatives left for the Japanese capital on Saturday night to partake in the Tokyo Games which is scheduled to begin from July 23.

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The eight sports professions included archery, badminton, table tennis, hockey, judo, gymnastics, swimming and weightlifting. Hockey that contains the men’s and the women’s, both the teams is the biggest of all among the disciplines.

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu of India already reached the capital on Friday from her training base in St Louis, USA. She was heeded by national coach Vijay Sharma along with assistant coach Sandip Kumar.

The boxers departed from Italy and the shooters reached Tokyo on Saturday, after their long training-cum-competition completion stint in Croatia. The 228-strong group that includes 119 athletes will represent the country India in the Tokyo Olympics that will be carried without spectators due to the pandemic situation.