The Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, declared the 141st session of the IOC open in the presence of Mr Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, and Mrs Nita M Ambani, IOC member.
The Session, which is being held in India after 40 years was graced by the Honourable Governor of Maharashtra Shri Ramesh Bais, Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Eknath Shinde, Honourable Deputy Chief Ministers Shri Devendra Fadnavis and Shri Ajit Pawar of Maharashtra and Honourable Sports Minister of India Shri Anurag Thakur, HRH Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck of Bhutan, Gianni Infantino, FIFA President and Sebastian Coe, World Athletics President, PT Usha, President of the IOA among other sporting dignitaries and heads of sporting federations.
Fresh off their record medal haul at the Asian Games, the Indian athletes were also at the ceremony, celebrating India’s success:
- Reigning Olympic and World Champion Neeraj Chopra, Olympic medallists including Abhinav Bindra, and Leander Paes accompanied by India National Hockey Team’s PR Sreejesh.
- Indian cricket stars Jhulan Goswami and Harmanpreet Kaur along with renowned Olympians Anju Bobby George and Anjali Bhagwat.
- Sports team owners – Shah Rukh Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt along with Deepika Padukone, whose tryst with sports began at a very young age, were also in attendance
- Deepa Malik, the first Indian woman to medal at the Paralympics and Manika Batra, the first Indian female table tennis player to medal at the Asian Games, were all in the house too.
- Young India won plenty of medals in the Asian Games and the next generation athletes such as Saurav Ghosal, Abhay Singh, Jyothi Yarraji, Jinson Johnson, Avinash Sable and Parul Chaudhary all attending the opening ceremony.
The Opening Ceremony set the tone for an unforgettable 141st Session to show the world India’s love for sports and the abundance of talent that represents it at the global stage.
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