Sushil to be India’s flag-bearer at Olympics

July 15, 2012 06:15 pm | Updated 07:31 pm IST - New Delhi

Sushil Kumar

Sushil Kumar

Ending days of speculation, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Sunday announced that wrestler Sushil Kumar, a bronze medallist at the Beijing Games, will be the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent at the upcoming London Olympics.

The names of top boxer Vijender Singh, tennis legend Leander Paes and ace shooter Abhinav Bindra were also doing the rounds for the honour.

Vijender, Sushil and Bindra had all returned with medals from the last edition of the Games in Beijing in 2008.

IOA acting president V.K. Malhotra announced that Sushil will be India’s flag-bearer.

Bindra was reportedly the preferred candidate of the IOA but since his 10m air rifle event is scheduled three days after the opening ceremony on July 30, the shooter wanted to focus on his preparations.

Similarly, Vijender’s weigh-in is scheduled for July 28 so it was tough for him to do the honours.

Paes had led the contingent in 2000 Sydney Games and IOA decided Sushil should do the honours this time.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.