Mary Kom, PV Sindhu land in Tokyo for the Olympics

The first batch of Indian athletes for the Tokyo Olympics have landed in the Japanese capital.

The boxing team, led by the legendary MC Mary Kom, badminton ace PV Sindhu, archers Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, along with the men’s and women’s Indian hockey teams, reached Tokyo on Sunday.

So far, athletes and support staff of 13 different disciplines -- badminton, archery, hockey, judo, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, shooting, boxing, rowing, sailing, weightlifting and table tennis -- have reached Japan.

The remaining contingent, including wrestling and athletics teams, are expected to join them soon.

While most of the athletes flew out from New Delhi on Saturday night, the boxing team made its way to Tokyo 2020 from their training base in Assisi, Italy via Amsterdam.

The 15-member strong shooting team too reached the Games village on Friday from its camp in Croatia. The shooters are expected to hit the range on Monday. 

“They have settled down at the Village, rooms are being allotted at the Games Village and they will begin training from July 19. There is no quarantine or any isolation required as they have arrived from Croatia,” National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary Rajiv Bhatia told PTI.

Others making their way to the Olympic city from their training bases outside India include weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who reached Tokyo on Friday from the USA. Swimmer Sajan Prakash, meanwhile, is flying in from Dubai.

The sailing team of Nethra Kumanan, Vishnu Saravanan, KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar, along with rowers Arjun Jat and Arvind Singh, arrived in Tokyo earlier this week.

The athletes travelling from India will undergo a three-day quarantine in the Games Village ahead of the Games, which begin on Friday.

A total of 127 athletes will make up the Indian contingent at the Tokyo Games, making it the biggest-ever for the country at the Olympics.