List of all Indian flagbearers at Olympics: From 1920 Antwerp Olympics to 2024 Paris Olympics | Others Sports News

The flag-bearer of the country is considered to be a role model for his fellow athletes and he/she represents the core values of Olympics. 

Veteran Indian table tennis player Sharath Kamal and ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu. (Photo: Instagram/Indian Olympic Association)

New Delhi: The flagbearer of a country holds the national flag during the opening ceremony of the Summer and Winter Olympics edition. The flagbearer walks ahead of the entire contingent in the team parade. The flag-bearer of the country is considered to be a role model for his fellow athletes and he/she represents the core values of Olympics.

India has seen 18 flagbearers in the past with ace Indian paddler Sharath Kamal and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will join the list as they take the baton forward in the opening ceremony of Paris Olympics on Friday night.

100m sprinter Purma Banerjee was India’s first flagbearer at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp followed by field hockey player Lal Shah Bokhari at the 1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand was the flagbearer of the Indian contingent for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Legendary hockey player Balbir Singh Sr, who won three gold medals in a row from 1948 to 1956, is the only player in the history of Indian Olympics history to be the flagbearer on two events – 1952 Games in Helsinki and 1956 Games in Melbourne.

Over the years, India has seen the trend of Indian Olympic medalist being featured as the flagbearer of the contingent in the following edition with Leander Paes (2000 Sydney Games), Rayavardhan Singh Rathore (2008 Beijing Games), Sushil Kumar (2012 London Games), Abhinav Bindra (2016 Rio Games), Mary Kom (2020 Tokyo Games) leading the examples.

India brings new trend for flagbearers in Tokyo

In the first instance, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) fielded one male and one female flagbearers at the Tokyo Olympics. Indian pugilist Mary Kom and Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh shared the honours in the Japan capital. The trend continues in Paris with Sharath and Sindhu to represent the Indian contingent.

Here’s the list of all Indian flagbearers at Olympics from 1920 to 2024:

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