London 2012 silver medallist Vijay Kumar will be the Indian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.
Disclosing this information to The Hindu , the chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent Raj Singh said that the Indian Olympic Association had initially decided in favour of Beijing 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, but the shooter declined to do the honours as his event was to take place on Thursday.
“Accordingly, it was a toss-up between Vijay Kumar and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, before we firmed up the shooter,” he said.
As on Monday, 152 Indian athletes out of 221 cleared to participate in the Games have checked in at the Athletes Village.
The Indian team had its flag ceremony at the Athletes Village on Sunday, when the tricolour was hoisted in the presence of the athletes and officials.
Commenting on the preparations of the Indian contingent, Mr. Singh said the morale of all the team members was high. “They are all preparing well for the competitions ahead and I hope the contingent will return home with flying colours.”
Vijay Kumar was the best shooter at the London Olympics, winning silver in the rapid-fire pistol event.
The Indian team for the Games will comprise of 221 athletes, including 101 women, besides 83 officials. In all, the effective strength of the contingent in Glasgow will be 304.
India will be participating in 14 of the 17 disciplines in which competitions are to be held. The events left out are netball, rugby sevens and triathlon.
