IOA announces list of athletes set to cherish Olympic dreams
NEW DELHI: India will be represented by 117 athletes at this month’s Paris Olympics after the sports ministry cleared the final contingent that also features 140 support staff and officials, of which 72 have been approved at “cost to the government” to meet the “requirements” of the travelling sportspersons.
The only qualified athlete missing from the list is shot-putter Abha Khatua. The Games will run from July 26 to August 11.
Khatua, who made the cut through world rankings quota, has been dropped without any explanation after her name was found missing from the World Athletics’ list of Olympic participants a few days ago.
Despite Khatua’s absence, athletics will make for the biggest group in the contingent with 29 names (11 women and 18 men), followed by shooting (21) and hockey (19).
Table tennis will be represented by eight players, while badminton (7) will feature seven competitors, including two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu.
Wrestling (6), archery (6), and boxing (6) will have six representatives each, followed by golf (4), tennis (3), swimming (2), sailing (2), and one each for equestrian, judo, rowing and weightlifting.
The shooting contingent, which is the second biggest, consists of 11 women and 10 men, while table tennis will have four players each in both categories.
Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu is the lone weightlifter in the contingent and will compete in women’s 49kg category.
In Tokyo Olympics, India were represented by a 119-member contingent, and the country logged its best-ever performance of seven medals, including the historic javelin throw gold by Neeraj Chopra. Chopra will be there in Paris to defend his medal. Besides, there will 21 contingent officials of which 11 will be accommodated at the Games Village, including Narang, two Deputy Chef de Mission, Press Attache, two Headquarter Officials and five medical team members.
The remaining 10 officials (eight medical team members, social media attache and a team official) will be accommodated in hotels outside the Games Village, the cost of which will be borne by the government.
Shooting (18) will have the highest number of support staff, which includes one High Performance Director and six coaches, who will stay at the Games Village while the remaining 11 (four coaches, four physios, two psychologists, one strength and conditioning expert) will stay in hotels.
The ministry letter further stated that Air Commodore Prashant Arya, Air Attache in Embassy of India at Paris will be Olympic Attache, who will have accreditation, and will be visiting the Games Village and competition venues to take care of any issues requiring assistance and intervention of the Embassy.
In a bid to avoid doping embarrassment in Paris, the government has asked the IOA to take appropriate measures.