The only individual gold Olympic medalist in Indian sports, Bindra, is competing in his fifth Games.
Even as a good portion of the Indian contingent will be taking part in the Games, some of the disciplines who have training and competition on August 6, will be skipping the Opening and watch it in the Village.
Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent Rakesh Gupta said, “Abhinav will lead the Indian contingent as the flag bearer. Some of the teams, not participating in the march-past, have competitions the following day. For instance, we have been informed by the Men’s Hockey team that they will not be marching because they have their first match the following day.”
The coaches have informed the Chef de Mission that they be exempted because of the training and competition schedules on the following day.
Among some of the others, who will not be taking part will include Archery, who have their elimination rounds on Saturday; weightlifting who have a competition in the women’s category and some tennis players, who have their matches on August 6.
The pre-show will begin at 7.15 pm (BST) and the Opening Ceremony starts at 8 pm. The athletes’ parade will start at 8.43 pm, according to the schedule. It will take approximately two hours for the parade. The ceremony will finish at 11.17 pm.
(The writer is a senior sports journalist)
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.