New Delhi: Union Cabinet Minister and BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh, Kiren Rijiju, has wished luck to Tokyo-bound Indian athletes, who are set to represent the country in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
The newly sworn-in Minister of Law and Justice in Modi's expanded cabinet took to Twitter and wrote, "Dear Athletes, have a safe journey and give your best for India".
The 2020 Olympics, which was scheduled to happen last year but got postponed due to the initial rages of the pandemic, is going to commence from 23rd July 2021. As the Indian delegation flies out of the country today, Rijuju shared a video of "Hum Honge Kamyab" (We will be successful) and urged them to perform at their best for the country.
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Out of the total 115 athletes that will represent India at the Olympics, 15 of them are from Eastern India.
The composition is:
• 4 athletes from Odisha (Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas for Men's Hockey, Deep Grace Ekka for Women's Hockey, and Dutee Chand for Women's Athletics).
• 3 athletes from West Bengal (Atanu Das for Men's Archery, Sutirtha Mukherjee for Women's Table Tennis and Pranati Nayak for Women Gymnastics).
• 5 athletes from Manipur (Mary Kom for Women's Boxing, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu for Women's Weightlifting, Shushila Likmabam for Women's Judo, Shushila Chanu Pukhrambam for Women's Hockey and Nilakanta Sharma for Men's Hockey).
• 1 athlete each from Sikkim (Tarundeep Rai for Men's Archery), Assam (Lovlina Borgohain for Women's Boxing) and Mizoram (Lalremsiami for Women's Hockey).
To heighten the morale of the Olympics-bound Indian team, Bollywood celebrities and renowned personalities had come together in a video montage to wish them to "Go for Gold".
India expects gold medals in the Olympic Games from players like Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Deepika Kumari, and PV Sindhu. This time more than 100 athletes are going to participate from India, including two teams of hockey.
Archery
In archery, India is expecting a medal from Deepika Kumari, who is in excellent form. India can also get a medal in the men's team event.
Tarundeep Rai
Atanu Das
Pravin Jadhav
Deepika Kumari
Athletes
Players like Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh have raised India's hopes in the javelin throw as Athletes have never been India's strong suit at the Olympic Games. India is also expecting medals from Muhammed Anas and Dutee Chand.
KT Irfan (20 km race walk)
Sandeep Kumar (20 km race walk)
Rahul Rohilla (20 km race walk)
Gurpreet Singh (50 km Race Walk)
Bhawna (20 km race walk)
Priyanka Goswami (20 km race walk)
Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase)
Murali Sreeshankar (Long Jump)
MP Jabir (400m Hurdle Race)
Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw)
Shivpal Singh (javelin throw)
Annu Rani (javelin throw)
Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Shot Put)
Dutee Chand (100m and 200m race events)
Kamalpreet Kaur (discus throw)
Seema Punia (discus throw)
Badminton
PV Sindhi created history by winning a silver medal in the Rio Olympics. But now India is hoping for a gold medal from Sindhu.
PV Sindhu (Badminton)
B. Sai (Badminton)
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Sethi (Badminton Doubles event)
Boxing
Boxing is a field where India's performance in the Olympic Games has improved over the years. In boxing, apart from star player Mary Kom, India is also expecting a medal from Amit Panghal.
Mary Kom (51 kg)
Vikas Krishan (69 kg)
Lovlina (69 kg)
Ashish Kumar (75 kg)
Pooja Rani (75 kg)
Satish Kumar (91 kg)
Amit Panghal (52 kg)
Manish Kaushik (63 kg)
Simranjit Kaur (60 kg)
Fencing
India is going to participate in fencing for the first time in the Olympic Games. Bhavani Devi will become the first Indian athlete to participate in the fencing event of the Olympic Games.
Golf
India is expected to do well in golf at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. India will participate in both men's and women's categories.
Anirban Lahiri
Udayan Mane
Aditi Ashok
Gymnastics: Pranati Nayak is only the second gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Hockey: Both men's and women's hockey teams of India have managed to make it to the Olympic Games this time.
Judo: Sushila Devi is the only player to participate in Judo from India. Sushila Devi has made the cut for the 48 kg category.
Rowing: Arjun Jat and Arvind Singh have successfully qualified for rowing.
Shooting
15 Indian shooters managed to qualify for the Olympic Games this year. This is the largest contingent of India to make a place in any category of the Olympic Games.
Anjum Moudgil (10m)
Apurvi Chandela (10m)
Divyansh Singh (10m)
Deepak Kumar (10m)
Tejaswini Sawant (50m)
Sanjeev Rajput (50m)
Aishwarya Pratap (50m)
Manu Bhaker (10m)
Yashaswini Singh (10m)
Saurabh Chaudhary (10m)
Abhishek Verma (10m)
Rahi (25 meters)
Chinki Yadav (25m)
Angad Veer Singh (Skeet)
Mairaj Ahmad Khan (Skeet)
Table tennis
Four players have managed to qualify from India in Table Tennis. India is hoping for a medal from Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra.
Sharath Kamal
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran
Sutirtha Mukherjee
Manika Batra
Swimming: Sajan Prakash will achieve the distinction of becoming the first player from India to participate in swimming. Sajan Kumar has qualified for the 200m butterfly event.
Tennis: This is the first time since 1992 that no player from India will participate in the men's tennis event. The pair of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will compete for India in the Tokyo Olympics.
Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu is the only player from India to participate in the weightlifting event of Tokyo Olympics. Mirabai Chanu is ranked second in the world ranking and she is also considered a favourite for the gold medal.
Wrestling: Seven players will participate from India in the wrestling event of Tokyo Olympics. However, Sakshi Malik, who won the bronze medal in the Rio Olympics, will not be able to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
Sailing
Nethra Kumanan is the first Indian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics.
Nethra Kumanan, Laser Radial
Vishnu Saravanan, Laser Standard
KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar, 49er