Photo of Indian hockey team captain Manpreet Singh.© IOA
Men’s hockey captain Manpreet Singh has been named the second flagbearer for the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony along with PV Sindhu. Sindhu was named India’s flagbearer earlier on Wednesday, after Neeraj Chopra pulled out of the event with an injury. However, the decision was taken to name Manpreet Singh as the second flag-bearer as every country has to name one male and one female flag-bearer. “The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is pleased to announce Mr Manpreet Singh, the captain of the men’s hockey team, as a Flagbearer of Team India for the Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Olympic Games alongside shuttler Ms PV Sindhu,” the IOA said in a release.
“The decision to name Mr Singh, who led the Indian men’s hockey team to a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last year, as the second Flagbearer for the said occasion was arrived at after the IOA was intimated by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee that two Flagbearers – one male and one female – must be named by each nation for the Opening Ceremony,” the statement further added.
“Mr Manpreet Singh ended Indian hockey’s 41-year Olympic medal drought with a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is one of the finest athletes to have ever represented India on the international stage. We are delighted to name him and Ms Sindhu as the two Flagbearers who will lead the Indian contingent out at the Parade of Nations tomorrow during the Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games,” said IOA Acting President Mr Anil Khanna.
Neeraj Chopra was set to be the flagbearer, but he sustained an injury during the World Athletics Championships, where he won a silver medal.
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