After India's golden boy Neeraj Chopra was ruled out of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 due to an unfortunate injury, the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) have decided to appoint PV Sindhu as the new flagbearer for the opening ceremony in Birmingham, which will take place on July 28.
Also, men's hockey captain Manpreet Singh has been named the second flagbearer for the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony along with PV Sindhu.
"It’s a great honour to be bestowed with the responsibility to lead the contingent and hold the flag at such an august gathering. I am extremely happy and I wish all my fellow contingent all the best for the Games. I would like to thank IOA also for choosing me as the Flag Bearer,” Sindhu said.
24-year-old Neeraj was a Tokyo Olympic gold medallist in 2021, and very recently secured a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon on Sunday, July 24. The star Javelin Thrower informed the IOA and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) that he will not be able to participate in the upcoming event.
Sindhu will be looking to improve on her Gold Coast performance in 2018, where she won the Silver medal. She was also the flag bearer for India back at the last CWG in Australia.
Meanwhile, Neeraj’s fourth attempt of 88.13m which fetched him the silver in the world championship final, is when he realised that he had injured his groin.
For his fifth and sixth throws, he came out with a strapped upper thigh, and both his throws ended as fouls.
Reports of his scans came on Monday, July 25, following which he has been advised to rest by the doctors.
The star Indian athlete is already a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018, and will be disappointed at not being able to defend his title, with his biggest rival Anderson Peters of Grenada now a firm favourite to win the coveted top prize at CWG 2022.
The CWG 2022 opening ceremony will kick off in India at 11:30 pm IST, and 7:30 pm in Birmingham.
