Commonwealth Games 2022 Opening Ceremony: Hockey captain Manpreet Singh to be flagbearer along with PV Sindhu today

The four-member committee had initially shortlisted hockey captain Manpreet Singh alongside boxer Amit Panghal and paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal before Anil Khanna and Rajeev Mehta chose Manpreet for the honour.

Hockey captain Manpreet Singh (centre) is the second flagbearer for India.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced Manpreet Singh, the captain of the men’s hockey team, as a flagbearer of Team India for the Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2-22 alongside shuttler PV Sindhu. The decision to name Manpreet, who led the Indian men’s hockey team to a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last year, as the second Flagbearer for the said occasion was arrived at after the IOA was intimated by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee that two Flagbearers – one male and one female – must be named by each nation for the Opening Ceremony.

The four-member committee, comprising IOA Acting President Anil Khanna, IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, IOA Treasurer Anandeshwar Panday and Team India Chef de Mission Rajesh Bhandari, that named Sindhu as the first Flagbearer earlier in the day was also in charge of selecting Manpreet as a Flagbearer.

The selection process followed for zeroing in on the male Flagbearer was the same as naming the female Flagbearer. The four-member committee had initially shortlisted Manpreet alongside boxer Amit Panghal and paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal before Anil Khanna and Rajeev Mehta chose Manpreet for the honour.

“Manpreet Singh ended Indian hockey's 41-year Olympic medal drought with a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is one of the finest athletes to have ever represented India on the international stage. We are delighted to name him and Ms Sindhu as the two Flagbearers who will lead the Indian contingent out at the Parade of Nations tomorrow during the Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games,” IOA Acting President Anil Khanna said in a statement.

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“As with the three female shortlisted athletes, their three male counterparts were all deserving candidates, but we decided that Mr Singh be named a Flagbearer with Ms Sindhu because of the leadership he showed at Tokyo 2020, which played a part in our men’s hockey team clinching a sensational bronze medal,” IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta said.