RUNNING GROUND
Indian athletes start training a day after landing in Tokyo
Tokyo, July 19: Indian athletes started their preOlympic training a day after landing here, hoping to live up to massive expectations in the pandemic-hit Games.
The first batch of Indian athletes arrived on Sunday morning and checked in to the Games village after fulfilling the Covid-19 related protocol requirements.
The likes of archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, table tennis players G. Sathiyan and A Sharath Kamal, ace shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and B. Sai Praneeth and lone Indian gymnast in fray, Pranati Nayak, started their training on Monday.
While archery couple Atanu and Deepika started sharpening their skills at the Yumenoshima Park this morning, paddlers Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal too began their preparations.
Gymnasts Pranati Nayak also started her training this morning under the supervision of coach Laxman Manohar Sharma.
While shuttler Sindhu and Praneeth trained with singles coach Park Tae Sang, the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy hit the courts along with their coach Mathias Boe.
The sailors, including V. Sarvanan, the first to reach Tokyo, had already started their training on Sunday.
Besides Saravanan (men’s laser class), Nethra Kumanan, K.C. Ganapathy, and Varun Thakker, all of whom reached here last week, will be representing the country in the sailing event at the Tokyo Games.
Rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh, who will compete in men’s lightweight double scull and arrived in the Japanese capital on Saturday morning, underwent their first training session under the supervision of chief national coach Ismail Baig.
The 15-strong group of Indian shooters also to hit the range on Monday.