With the much-awaited Olympic Games getting underway next week, the Indian contingent members have begun trickling into the Olympic Village here.
The Games will begin on August 5 and almost half of the Indian contingent is already here.
“It’s great to get to the Village and get used to the facilities,” said Rakesh Gupta, Chef de Mission of the Indian contingent. “It is a long journey to Rio and it is important that our boys and girls get here well in advance to get acclimatized.”
The official Welcome Ceremony of the Indian team will be held in the afternoon on August 2. All teams are given specific slots and a brief but elegant ceremony is held to officially welcome them into the Olympic Village, even though they have been staying in it for a few days.
“The Welcome ceremony is an official function and the Indian tricolor as also the national anthem will be played. It is also a team bonding exercise in a way,” said Gupta. “The athletes are also getting to know their teammates from different disciplines. Throughout the season, they meet players from the same sport, but here they get a great chance to mingle with others, both national and international. That’s what makes Olympic so unique.”
The archery team was the first to arrive in Rio and others include athletics team, boxers and shooters.
Joining the other shooters who arrived a couple of days earlier, was 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, Gagan Narang. He was accompanied by Chain Singh.
“We are coming from Switzerland and it has been a long journey. It is always nice to get to an Olympic Games and the focus is now on the event,” said the experienced Narang as Chain nodded on.
The Indian contingent members have been getting used to the Village and the various activities here. Many of the athletes after training were entertaining themselves at the Village Plaza and the Virtual Reality set up here.
Indian Hockey teams arrive
Determined to put up a top-notch performance at the 2016 Olympic Games, the Indian men and women’s hockey teams arrived here on Friday.
While the men’s team traveled from Madrid after playing two friendly matches against the Spanish national squad, the Indian women’s team arrived from Philadelphia where they won two matches against Canada and one match against USA national teams.
This will be the first women’s hockey team from India in 36 years to play at the Olympics.