Tokyo, Jul 19 (Sports news) Popular IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders have joined hands with other sporting entities such as Ultimate Table Tennis and FC Goa to form a Fan Army for India's Olympic contingent.
The virtual fan movement comprises as many as 31 million supporters who will be rooting for the country's athletes at the Games.
The other entities are Gokulam Kerala FC, Real Kashmir FC, Shillong Lajong FC and Cricket Fauj.
This is an initiative by MPL (Mobile Premier League) Sports Foundation, which is the principal partner of the Indian Olympic contingent.
"It is a matter of great honour and privilege for us at the MPL Sports Foundation that all of these illustrious clubs, franchises, and fan groups have come together to make India's first Olympic Fan Army.
"We will rally behind our athletes as they seek to make the entire nation proud at Tokyo. Here's to our heroes," said Sai Srinivas, Trustee, MPL Sports Foundation, and Co-founder and CEO, Mobile Premier League.
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Two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders are bringing all their fans together to be part of the Fan Army and they were joined by other teams.
Fans of Ultimate Table Tennis, India's only TT league, are also joining in. They will be closely watching and cheering their own stars Achanta Sharat Kamal, Manika Batra, Suthirtha Mukherjee and G Sathiyan during the Games.
As Tokyo remains out of bounds for spectators and keeping in mind the COVID-19 restrictions in India, this will be a virtual fan movement.
There are various activities planned including a call out to the entire fan base to become fans of the Indian Olympic team, know them, watch their events and cheer for them.
A large engagement exercise has been planned with the fans submitting their fan moments through photographs and videos.
Humans of Bombay, the online project that captures untold stories of people, have been roped in, to make the fans know the Indian athletes.
They are producing stories that will tell the fans about athletes like weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, hockey captain Rani Rampal, archer Deepika Kumari, hockey player Lalremsiami, fencer Bhavani Devi and shot putter Tajinder Singh Toor.
News source; PTI
