The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday reviewed India’s preparedness for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. India will be hoping to better their medal tally this time around after managing to bag only two medals at the Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Tokyo Olympics are set to be staged this year after being postponed last year due to the COVID-19 crisis.
While there are still doubts over the Olympics being staged successfully this year with the contagious virus wreaking havoc across several countries in the world, including India, the organisers are hopeful that the Games will go ahead without any delay.
India will be sending over 100 athletes to take part in the showpiece event this year with several of them top contenders for a medal in their respective sports. The likes of PV Sindhu, Bajrang Punia, MC Mary Kom, and Neeraj Chopra among those who are some of the top contenders to clinch glory for the country at the biggest stage.
There was a one-hour-long meeting at the PMO on Thursday where India’s preparedness ahead of the Olympics was discussed. The countdown for the Tokyo Games has started with only 50 days left for the start of the mega event.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju recently spoke about India’s medal hopes at the Tokyo Games and said he is expecting the athletes to break the past record in the medal tally.
“First of all, I want to see that India has broken the past record (at Olympics). That is very clear because that is how we want to enhance India’s capacity but to predict an exact medal it’s there in my mind. Of course, everybody has a calculation. I have also calculated on the basis of all the correct information as much as possible. I have a prediction in mind. It may unnecessarily spin-off and dampen the spirit of the sportsperson,” Kiren Rijiju told Sports Today.
However, despite the organisers’ confidence in going ahead with the Games, 10,000 out of the 80,000 volunteers who were planned for the Olympics have decided to quit expressing doubts over the fate of the showpiece event. Polls conducted by various agencies have shown people in Japan want the Olympics to be cancelled or postponed again.
