Tokyo Olympics 2020: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the Indian athletes' contingent today before they leave to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
Prime Minister Modi will talk to Indian athletes going to the Olympics through video conferencing, today, at 5 pm. On July 17, the first batch of players from India will leave for Tokyo, where the Olympics is to commence from July 23. Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur and Kiren Rijiju will also be present in this video conferencing along with the Prime Minister.
According to the PMOs, the Prime Minister had also taken stock of the preparations being made for the facilities of Indian players in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. He had also mentioned the inspirational performance of some athletes in his radio program Mann Ki Baat. At the same time, he called upon the countrymen to come forward and wholeheartedly support the players going to take part in the Olympics.
The largest Indian team participating in the 2020 Olympics
The PMO has said that this time 126 athletes from 18 sports are going to participate in the Tokyo Olympics from India. This is by far the highest number of athletes participating in any Olympics from India.
Also, this year there are several notable firsts in terms of participation. For the first time from India will be represented in fencing by Bhavani Devi. Apart from this, Netra Kumanan is the first female athlete from India to qualify for the Olympic Games in the sailing event. Also Sajan Prakash and Srihari Natraj are the first swimmers from India to qualify for Olympic Games by achieving 'A' qualification standard in swimming event.