Tokyo 2020: PV Sindhu, Mary Kom reach Japan with India's first batch

PV Sindhu, Mary Kom reach Japan with India’s first batch
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 PV Sindhu, Mary Kom reach Japan with India’s first batch

Highlights

An 88-member Indian contingent reaches Tokyo With 127 athletes, Tokyo Games will be India's highest ever playing contingent Badminton and table tennis players are off to the Games Village

PV Sindhu-led India's badminton contingent and the table tennis team were cleared on Sunday to travel to Games Village for the Tokyo Olympics.

The 2020 Tokyo Games are set to begin on July 23. An 88-member Indian contingent, including 54 athletes arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, according to ANI. Athletes and support staff in as many as eight disciplines, including badminton, archery, hockey, judo, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, and table tennis arrived in Tokyo. They were tested on their arrival at the Tokyo airport and the badminton and table tennis contingent have been cleared to travel to Games Village. The Indian Boxing team, spearheaded by Amit Panghal and Mary Kom, also arrived in Tokyo on Sunday from Italy.

With 127 athletes, Tokyo Olympics will be India's highest ever playing contingent.

The Indian boxers were in Italy training for the mega event and they departed for Tokyo on Saturday. The men's boxing side comprises of Asian Games champion Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), and Satish Kumar (+91kg). The women's squad includes Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), and Pooja Rani (75kg).

The first group of Indian athletes received a formal send-off on Saturday at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The athletes were addressed and sent their best wishes by Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, and Nisith Pramanik, Minister of State, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The ceremony on Saturday was also attended by Narinder Dhruv Batra, President, Indian Olympic Association; Rajeev Mehta, Secretary-General, Indian Olympic Association, and Sandip Pradhan, Director-General, SAI among other dignitaries. To maintain the safety of players, entry into the event was only allowed of dignitaries and other officials who had a negative COVID test report.

The upcoming Tokyo Games will be held from July 23 to August 8. The multi-nation event was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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