Tokyo: Only six officials from the Indian contingent were allowed to take part in the opening ceremony of Tokyo Paralympics on Tuesday, Chef De Mission Gursharan Singh said on Sunday.
Thus India will have 11 members participating in the opening ceremony, five remaining as athletes.
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There was no closed on the number of athletes for the opening ceremony but only seven Indian participants reached Tokyo so far.
Of the seven, two table tennis players – Sonal Patel and Bhavina Patel – have competition on Wednesday and will not take part in the ceremony, where the Japanese emperor Naruhto will declare an open game.
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This is the most contingent India ever sent to any paralympiat.
All 54 athletes are part of the target Olympic podium “only six officials allowed for the temporary opening ceremony there was no closed on the number of athletes,” Chef De Mission Singh, who is also the Secretary General of the Indian Paralympics Committee, PTI told.
“Two table tennis players have competition the next day, namely Wednesday, so they did not participate in the opening ceremony.” Also read the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics 2020 paralympics Guide on August 24, after delaying pandemic throughout the year and under strict virus rules, including the prohibition of almost all spectators.
The same rules during the opening ceremony followed during the Tokyo Olympics which ended on August 8 of the six officials who participated in the opening ceremony, four had been decided, which included Chef de Mission, Deputy Chef de Mission Arhan Bagin, Covid-19 Connecting Head of VK Dabas officers and coach Mariyappan and Chair of Athletics Satyanarayana.
The third batch of Indian athletes departed on Monday but the parts must serve the quarantine period before being allowed to practice.
India is represented by the largest 54 athletes and this country expects the best haul medal this time.
Given the surge in Covid-19 cases in Tokyo, fans have been banned from Paralympics, just like the previous Olympics.