Paris Olympics 2024: The Indian contingent, with its 78 athletes, and officials has arrived at the Parade of Nations at the River Seine, in the opening ceremony of the games on Friday. Star shuttler PV Sindhu, and table tennis star Sharath Kamal were the flag bearers for the ceremony.
Donning a traditional attire, all the members were seen waving to the cameras with the Indian national flag. Indonesia’s contingent soon followed later. The rains at the opening ceremony could not dampen the spirit of the athletes.
For the 33rd version of the games, 117 athletes have come together to form India’s contingent. Spread across 16 sport disciplines, India’s team consists of 70 men and 47 women, who will compete in 69 events, for 95 medals.
While French footballer Zinedine Zidane made his appearance with a pre-recorded video carrying the Olympic flame, Lady Gaga wowed the audience with her performance on Mon truc en plumes, standing on a grand staircase.
The Indian team will compete in sixteen sports disciplines including archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and tennis.
All eyes are set for India as the mixed team air rifle medal matches are scheduled on Saturday at the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux. Two Indian teams, Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal, will compete in this event. Manu Bhaker will compete in two individual pistol events and the 10 m air pistol mixed team competition as well.
Prominent athletes from India during the Parade of Nations:
Archery: Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai.
Badminton: PV Sindhu
Boxing: Lovlina Borgohain
Equestrian: Anush Agarwalla
Golf: Shubhankar Sharma
Hockey: Krishan Pathak, Nilakanta Sharma and Jugraj Singh
Judo: Tulika MannSailing: Vishnu Saravanan and Nethra Kumanan
Shooting: Anjum Moudgil, Sift Kaur Samra, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Anish.
Swimming: Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghu
Table Tennis: Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra
Tennis: Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal and Sriram Balaji.
