NEW DELHI, OCT 02,
Teenage shooting star Manu Bhaker was on Monday named as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires from October 6-18.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra announced during the send-off ceremony here that the 16-year-old Bhaker will lead the Indian team in the opening ceremony.
‘Great honour’
“It is a great honour for me. I never expected to be the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent,” Manu told PTI. A contingent of 68 members, including 46 athletes, will leave for Argentina on Tuesday to compete in 13 sports. Goa Olympic Association Secretary Gurudutta D Bhakta will be the Chef-de-Mission of the contingent.
“It gives me immense pleasure to announce the young athletes’ participation in the Youth Olympic Games. May the Indian flag fly high,” Batra said. The send-off ceremony was also attended by Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, among others. This is India’s largest ever contingent at the Youth Olympics. Hockey 5s has most number of Indian participants with 18 (nine each in men’s and women’s team) while track and field has seven athletes. Other Indian participants are: shooting (4), recurve archery (2), badminton (2), swimming (2), table tennis (2), weightlifting (2), wrestling (2), rowing (2), boxing (1), judo (1), sport climbing (1).
Bhaker, who had won gold in 10m air pistol at Guadalajara World Cup as well as Commonwealth Games, will be among top medal contenders for India. Other medal contenders include CWG and World Championship silver medallist shooter Mehuli Ghosh, Asian Games champion marksman Saurabh Chaudhary and Asian junior badminton champion Lakshya Sena.
