London Olympics: Sushil to be India’s flag-bearer at opening ceremony

Zeenews Sports Bureau

New Delhi: Ending weeks of speculations, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced on Sunday that Sushil Kumar would be India’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics on July 27. Speaking at a conference in New Delhi, IOA Acting President V K Malhotra announced that the Olympic bronze-medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar will be India’s flag-bearer. While Abhinav Bindra was the first choice for IOA, it wasn’t possible with his 10m air rifle event scheduled for July 30. He was reluctant to do the honours for close to six hours as that could lead to some injury ahead of his event. The association was left with three names: Vijender Singh, Leander Paes and Sushil Kumar. The problem with Vijender was similar to that with Abhinav Bindra, while Paes’ case was different — he had led the Indian contingent in Sydney.