Fifteen athletes of the Indian Olympic Shooting squad have settled down well after their arrival at the Tokyo 2020 Games village on the Harumi waterfront district and they are now looking forward to their first training session on Monday at the Asaka Shooting range.
The athletes and seven support staff have all been accorded twin-sharing rooms and the contingent spent Sunday exploring the village, collecting their gifts, visiting selfie-points and welcoming their compatriots from other sports, besides catching up on much-needed rest.
"The rifle team has booked a bus for 6.55 am in the morning to go for practice," said senior Rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput. "It's time to go check out the range," he added.
"The team has settled down well in the village. The atmosphere is good and we are enjoying some much-needed rest after a long journey. We look forward to beginning training from Monday," said National Rifle coach Deepali Deshpande.
The shooters also said that arrangements for food and all were excellent and besides compulsory wearing of masks, there were no such restrictions on movement inside the village for any athlete.
Pistol coach Ronak Pandit shared, "Everything is being well taken care of. The food and other facilities are good and we are feeling quite safe with the protocols in place. The Indian Government and IOA are all at hand for any issues."
Among the gifts, the athletes received phones, footwear and ear-buds among other things. A total of 127 athletes across 18 sports disciplines from India will be heading to Tokyo. This is the biggest-ever contingent India is sending to any Olympics. The 69 cumulative events across the 18 sport disciplines that India will participate in are also the highest ever for the country.
Tokyo Olympics will run from July 23-August 8. The mega event was slated to be held last year, but it had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
( With inputs from ANI )
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