Picture Credit: Twitter/BCCI
Indian men's cricket team captain Virat Kohli has asked people to encourage the nation's athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympics. Notably, the Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to get underway on July 23 and will culminate on August 8. Despite there being no spectators at the venue owing to COVID-19, one can expect fireworks at the venue of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games as flagbearers enter the stadium followed by their country's contingent.
Meanwhile, Kohli is currently in the United Kingdom and is gearing up for the warm-up match prior to the five-match Test series against England set to begin in August. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video featuring the India captain as he asked the citizens to support the Tokyo-bound athletes. "#TeamIndia captain @imVkohli is cheering for our athletes at @Tokyo2020 Let's join him and #Cheer4India @IndiaSports' @Media_SAI' @WeAreTeamIndia," the video was captioned.
Check out the video here:
Notably, the first batch of Indian athletes received a formal sendoff on Saturday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The Tokyo-bound contingent was addressed by the new Union Minister of Sports Anurag Thakur.
The first batch of Indian athletes was given a formal send-off on Saturday at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The athletes were addressed and sent their best wishes by Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of Sports, and Nisith Pramanik who happens to be the Minister of State, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. An 88-member contingent, including 54 athletes arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for the forthcoming Olympic Games. The overall Indian contingent has 127 athletes which are the highest ever playing squad from India. The athletes and officials in as many as eight disciplines Badminton, Archery, Hockey, Judo, Swimming, Weightlifting, Gymnastics, and Table Tennis have already arrived in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Kohli would be a bit concerned regarding his selection for the warmup against Select County XI from July 20. This is because wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant tested positive for COVID-19 and his backup Wriddhiman Saha has been sent into isolation. KL Rahul might get the nod to be the keeper for this game although he has never kept wickets for India in a red-ball game.