Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has confirmed that the Sports Ministry will not send its delegation for Tokyo Olympics in order to accommodate more support staff to optimise the performance of athletes.
On Sunday, Rijiju took to Twitter and wrote:-
A decision is taken not to send any officials from Sports Ministry as part of the delegation to Tokyo Olympics except for necessary protocol needs.
We want to send more support staff such as Coaches, Physiotherapists, Doctors to optimize the performance of the athletes. pic.twitter.com/PNadmyLmMk
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) June 13, 2021
It may be mentioned here that the Tokyo Olympics organising committee has curtailed the size of foreign visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has impacted the overseas contingents with only a handful of support staff including coaches and physios allowed to travel to Tokyo.
In view of this, Sports Ministry has decided not to send delegates in order to have maximum support staff with the athletes.
A total of 100 Indian athletes have so far qualified and another 25 to 35 might make the cut for the delayed Tokyo Olympics scheduled from July 23 to August 8.
