Tokyo Olympics 2021: Mary Kom, Manpreet Singh And Bajrang Punia To Become India’s Flag Bearers

The outbreak of coronavirus in 2020 affected everyone's health, livelihood and mental health. Therefore, amid the soaring covid cases, it was Tokyo Olympics also got delayed by a year. Thanks to the awareness and vaccination programs, nations are able to control the surge in cases. And the good news is finally the world will witness this much-awaited event on 23 July 2021.

With India having won 28 medals in 31 editions of the summer games, we have high hopes from our athletes taking part in this grand event. People all over the country are optimistic and hopeful. In such a situation, it is a proud moment for six-time world champion boxer MC Mary Kom and men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh to be India's flag-bearer in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. The news was confirmed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on 5 July 2021, Monday.

Upon being asked, Mary Kom said to the press, "I don't have words to express my happiness at being named our country's flag bearer." Manpreet was quoted saying, "It is a huge honour to be named flag bearer alongside the incredible Mary Kom."

For Mary Kom, the Tokyo Olympics will be her swansong Olympics whereas, for Manpreet, this will be his third Olympics edition. He had earlier represented India at the London Olympics in 2012 and Rio Games held in 2016.

The news doesn't end just here, World Championship silver medalist, Bajrang Punia will be India's flag-bearer in the closing ceremony that will take place on 8 August 2021. Bajrang who is the reigning Commonwealth and Asian Games champion will be participating in the Olympics for the first time.

While this is undoubtedly proud news for our country, over 126 athletes and 75 officials will be comprising the Indian Contingent at the Tokyo Olympics. This totals the number to 201. According to IOA, this year the Indian Contingent comprises 56 percent male participants and 44 percent female participants. The contingent has 78 quotas and the athletes will be competing for 85 medal positions.

After reading the strength of the Indian contingent, we are sure you must be excited to know who are the participants. Therefore, we have mentioned the names of all the athletes who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Scroll down to read more.

Archery:
Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, and Pravin Jadhav - Individual and Team Recurve events
Deepika Kumari - Women's event
Athletics:
18 quota places ( 15 in individual events)
20km race walk:
KT Irfan
Sandeep Kumar
Bhawana Jat
Priyanka Goswami
Men's 3000m steeplechase: Avinash Sable
Men's 4x400m relay: Muhammed Anas, Noah Nirmal Tom, Rajiv Arokia, Amoj Jacob
Mixed 4x400m relay: Muhammed Anas, Velluva Vismaya, Jisna Mathew and Noah Tom
Men's Javelin Throw: Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh
Women's javelin throw: Annu Rani
Men's long jump: M. Sreeshankar
Men's shot put: Tajinderpal Singh Toor
Women's discus throw: Seema Punia, Kamalpreet Kaur
Men's 400m hurdles: MP Jabir
Women's 100m and 200m: Dutee Chand
Badminton
P.V. Sindhu - Women's singles
Sai Praneeth - Men's singles
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty - Men's Doubles
Boxing:
Women: Mary Kom (51kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) have qualified.
Men: Ashish Kumar (75kg),Satish Kumar (+91kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg) have qualified.
Equestrian:
Fouaad Mirza - individual
Fencing:
C.A. Bhavani Devi
Hockey:
1. Men's squad:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh; Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra; Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit; Forwards: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh.
2. Women's squad:
Goalkeepers: Savita; Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Gurjit Kaur, Udita; Midfielders: Nisha, Neha, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Navjot Kaur, Salima Tete; Forwards: Rani, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi
Golf:
Anirban Lahiri
Aditi Ashok
Gymnastics:
Pranati Nayak
Judo:
Sushila Devi Likmabam - women's extra-lightweight (48kg)
Rowing:
Arjun Jat and Arvind Singh - men's lightweight double sculls
Sailing:
Nethra Kumanan - Laser Radial class.
Vishnu Saravanan (Laser Standard)
KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar - 49er
Shooting:
10m Air Pistol (M) - Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma
10m Air Rifle (M) - Divyansh Singh Panwar, Deepak Kumar
10m Air Rifle (W) - Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela
10m Air Pistol (W) - Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Deswal
25m Pistol (W) - Rahi Sarnobat, Elavenil Valarivan (Taking Chinki Yadav's quota)
50m Rifle 3 Positions (M) - Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar
50m Rifle 3 Positions (W) - Tejaswini Sawant
Skeet (M) - Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan
Table Tennis:
Sutirtha Mukherjee
Manika Batra
G. Sathiyan
Sharath Kamal
Weightlifting:
Mirabai Chanu
Tennis:
Sania Mirza (with Ankita Raina)
Wrestling:
Seema Bisla, Women's Freestyle, 50kg
Vinesh Phogat, Women's Freestyle 53kg
Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Men's Freestyle 57kg
Anshu Malik, Women's Freestyle 57kg
Sonam Malik, Women's Freestyle 62kg
Bajrang Punia, Men's Freestyle 65kg
Deepak Punia, Men's Freestyle 86 kg