Tokyo: Excited and cautious in equal measure, the first batch of athletes from India’s Olympic contingent arrived here Sunday. They cleared the exhaustive Covid-19 related protocols at the airport before entering the Games village on a day. The arrival of the Indian contingent came on a day when two athletes staying in the village tested positive for Covid-19. The 88-strong Indian contingent from were given a grand send-off at the Delhi airport Saturday night. They were joined here by the shooters and boxers who were training in Italy and Croatia till Saturday.
The group travelling from India included archers, badminton and table tennis players, both the men’s and women’s hockey teams. There were also participants for judo, gymnastics, and swimming among others. They landed in the Japanese capital aboard a chartered Air India flight from New Delhi.
“It was a six hour wait at the (Tokyo) airport where we underwent Covid-19 tests but that was expected. All came out clear and we have checked into the Games village. All smooth so far,” a contingent said Sunday.
The group included stars such as world champion shuttler PV Sindhu, six-time World Champion boxer MC Mary Kom, World No.1 boxer Amit Panghal (in his category), top archer Deepika Kumari and TT player Manika Batra among others.
The Indians were duly masked. Some of them even wore face shields as they went through the paperwork at the airport before boarding buses to the Games Village.
With the addition of the new cases in the village, the total number of Games-related Covid-19 cases has now risen to 55 as per the OC records.
Despite the scepticism, IOC president Thomas Bach has insisted that the Games pose ‘zero risk’ for the residents of Olympic village and the Japanese people in general.
The Games will be held behind closed doors as infections soar in the Japanese capital. The city is recording more than 1,000 cases per day for the past few days.
Some Indian athletes reached Tokyo a few days earlier from their respective training bases abroad. India’s lone weightlifter in fray, Mirabai Chanu arrived here Friday from her training base in St Louis, USA.
India will be represented by a 228-strong contingent, including 119 athletes, at the Games.
Four Indian sailors – Nethra Kumanan and Vishnu Saravanan (laser class), KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar (49er class) –were the first Indians to arrive here from their training bases in Europe. They started training Thursday.