Sharath Kamal To Be India's Flag Bearer, Mary Kom Appointed Chef De Mission For Paris Olympics

Veteran table tennis player and reigning CWG champion Sharath Kamal will be India's flag bearer at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games while legendary boxer MC Mary Kom was on Thursday appointed the chef de mission of the country's contingent. Sharath Kamal symbolises "the unity and spirit of our contingent as they compete on the Olympic stage", the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said in a statement while making the announcement. The IOA has not yet named a female flag bearer but sources said that the sports body will not "compromise" on gender equality and will select a woman athlete later since many quotas for the Games, starting July 26, are yet to be filled.

"There is no change in policy. We will wait for official confirmation of qualifications for women athletes before announcing the name. There won't be any compromise on that," said the IOA source.

The IOC, in 2020, had changed its protocol to allow one female and and one male athlete of each NOC to bear the flag jointly during the opening ceremony of the Summer Games.

Mary Kom and former hockey skipper Manpreet Singh were India's flag bearers at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Hockey player Harmanpreet Singh and boxer Lovlina Borgohain were India's flag bearers at the Hangzhou Asian Games, last year.

Meanwhile, Sharath Kamal expressed his elation at getting selected for the honour.

"It has been an unbelievable three weeks. From not even sure of Olympic berth to playing the way I did in Singapore last week, jumping 54 spots in the rankings to being named India's flag bearer," Kamal told PTI.

"It is the biggest honour and fairytale stuff considering it is going to be my fifth and last Olympics. Also, not many TT players have got that honour, globally. I just got a call from IOA