The Indian Olympic Association has requested BCCI president and former Indian cricket team skipper Sourav Ganguly to be the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian contingent that will be participating at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year.
Ganguly is touted to be India’s goodwill ambassador at the Tokyo Olympics. General Secretary of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Rajiv Mehta has invited Sourav Ganguly by writing a letter. This year the Olympic Games are being held in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, from 24 July to 9 August.
Rajiv Mehta said that India will participate in 14–16 games at the Tokyo Olympics. In which 100-200 senior and junior athletes of the country are expected to participate.
In a letter sent to Sourav, IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta wrote that Ganguly is an inspiration for crores of people, especially the youth. He also said that Ganguly as an administrator has always valued the talent of the youth. Mehta further said that Ganguly joining forces with the Indian team as a goodwill ambassador will be a big boost up for our young athletes.
The letter read, “We are expecting participation of about 100-200 athletes across 14-16 sports disciplines at Tokyo 2020. The team is a mix of senior athletes as well as youngsters who are making their debut at the Olympic Games. You are an inspiration for a billion people, especially the youth. As an administrator, you have always nurtured young talent. We are hopeful that your association with Team India to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 would be a boost for our young athletes and a privilege for the Olympic movement in India.”
The letter finally concluded, “We hope you will generously extend your support for Team India to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.”
Apart from this, Mehta said that this year’s Olympics is also special in this context because 100 years of India’s team’s participation in the Olympics will be completed this year.
This will be the second time in India’s Olympic history when Goodwill will be the ambassador in the Indian contingent. Significantly, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sachin Tendulkar, Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, actor Salman Khan and legendary musician AR Rahman were named the goodwill ambassadors of India.
It is also to be noted that London Olympic medalist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and veteran runner Milkha Singh had questioned the move back in 2016 while veteran boxer Mary Kom and former captain of Indian hockey team Sardar Singh supported the move.
