Indian hockey team skipper Manpreet Singh has been named India’s second flagbearer after two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2022.
The decision comes after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was intimated by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee that two Flagbearers – one male and one female – must be named by each nation for the Opening Ceremony.
Notably, Manpreet led the Indian hockey team to a bronze-medal finish at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Earlier, Neeraj Chopra, gold-medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in Javelin was expected to be the hot-favourite to be India’s flagbearer, but the 24-year-old was ruled out of the CWG 2022, owing to an injury.
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The four-member committee, comprising IOA Acting President Anil Khanna, IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, IOA Treasurer Anandeshwar Panday, and Team India Chef de Mission Rajesh Bhandari, thereby named PV Sindhu as the first Flagbearer earlier in the day was also in charge of selecting Singh as a Flagbearer.
The selection process followed for zeroing in on the male flagbearer was the same as naming the female flagbearer. The four-member committee had initially shortlisted Singh alongside boxer Amit Panghal and paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal before Khanna and Mehta chose Singh for the honour.
IOA Acting President Anil Khanna: “Manpreet Singh ended Indian hockey’s 41-year Olympic medal drought with a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is one of the finest athletes to have ever represented India on the international stage. We are delighted to name him and Sindhu as the two Flagbearers who will lead the Indian contingent out at the Parade of Nations tomorrow during the Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.”
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IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta: “As with the three female shortlisted athletes, their three male counterparts were all deserving candidates, but we decided that Singh be named a Flagbearer with Sindhu because of the leadership he showed at Tokyo 2020, which played a part in our men’s hockey team clinching a sensational bronze medal.”
With inputs from ANI
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