India to send largest ever contingent to Rio Olympics, 90 sportsperson qualify

India will send its largest ever contingent, about 90 sports persons – to Olympics in Rio beginning August 5, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, while replying on behalf of Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during Question Hour said,

About 90 athletes have qualified for Olympics in Rio. India will send the largest ever contingent this year

Rijiju said 58 sports persons have qualified for individual events while 32 hockey players in both men and women. They have also qualified to participate the Olympics. The Minister said special assistance has been given to sporting talents for their training both in India and abroad.

Trinamool Congress MP and former footballer Prasun Banerjee, who had participated in Olympics in Moscow in 1980, said there was no dearth of talent in India but sports persons face problems in getting assistance and proper infrastructure.

Also read : Road to Rio- Indian athletes set new records in Rio Olympic Qualifiers

Rijiju also said that the government was always ready to accept suggestions and advice for improvement of sports, sporting infrastructure and promotion of athletes.

The 2016 Summer Olympics or commonly known as Rio 2016, is a major international multi-sport event in the tradition of the Olympic Games due to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to August 21, 2016. Record numbers of countries are participating in a record number of sports. More than 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.With 306 sets of medals, the games will feature 28 Olympic sports. With 48 men and 40 women competing for 43 different events, the Country is going to mark its biggest feat at the games.

According to information available with the government, 58 Indians have qualified so far for the 2016 Olympics, and 32 of them are from Hockey (Men & Women). In Archery ; Deepika Kuamri, Laxmi Rani Majhi, Rimii Birully, Mangal Singh Champia have qualified. Under Athletics; Gurmeet Singh, Bajinder Singh, Chandan Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Manish Rawat, Kushbir Kaur, Inderjeet Singh, Manpreet Kaur, Tintu Luka, O.P Jiasha, Sudha Singh, Lalita Babar have made a mark.

The Indian hockey team both men and women have qualified with 16 members each. The Shooting qualifiers include- Jitu rai, Apurvi Chandela, Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Gurpreet Singh, P.N Prakash, Chain Singh, Miraj Ahmed Khan and Wrestling is marked by Narsingh Yadav.