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Indian flag raised at Athletes Village in London

London, Jul 22: India's national flag was unfurled at the London Olympic Games Athletes Village on Sunday in the presence of small group of country's athletes including tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi.

London Olympics Special

Hockey players, tennis players, boxers, shooters, archers were present during the ceremony along with Bhupathi, who tweeted the picture of the tri-colour being hoisted. Bhupathi's doubles partner Rohan Boppanna, world number one archer Deepika Kumari were also present.

"Indian Flag scheduled to be hoisted at the Village in a few minutes.. Majority of the Indian contingent here.. Stay tuned!!" tweeted Bhupathi (@Maheshbhupathi) on Sunday.

One hour later, Bhupathi tweeted the picture in which the tri-colour was hoisted.

Earlier, according to PTI report, India had sought a postponement of date for its flag-raising ceremony, which is also called the "Welcoming Ceremony", so that a larger contingent could be present at the function. However, the organisers had turned down India's request.

Indian contingent's Deputy Chef-de-Mission Brigadier PK Muralidharan Raja was quoted in the media as saying, "We wanted a postponement of India's flag raising ceremony, but the organisers are keen to stick to the original schedule drawn up by them."

Rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra, the country's first individual gold medallist in Beijing, was not be able to take part in the ceremony as he had left for Germany to continue his training, PTI report said.

India's lone woman boxer MC Mary Kom was also missing as she is scheduled to arrive in London a few days later.

Several top officials of the Indian Olympic body may not be able to make it as the travel schedule does not bring them to London so soon.

Indian contingent will have 81 athletes, the highest ever sent to Olympics. The Games will open on Jul 27.

OneIndia News

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 17:58 [IST]
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