INDIA. Mumbai: While there has been an increase in the number of airmen participating in international tournaments, the five Indian Air Force personnel are representing the nation in Tokyo Olympics 2021, after a gap of nearly 25 years.
IAF Sports has made significant progress at the National and International arenas wherein talented Air Warriors have shown their grit and determination, and have won medals at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cups, and World Championships, thus bringing accolades for the country in the international arena.
Over the years, IAF sportspersons have exhibited consistent improvement in their performance and there has been an increase in the number of Air Warriors becoming part of national coaching camps for international tournaments. It is a matter of great pride for the warriors in blue to achieve such potentials to represent the National flag and bring medals for the country, an official statement said.
The following IAF sportsmen and officials are members are representing India, in Tokyo Olympics 2021: Junior Warrant Officer(JWO) Deepak Kumar of the IAF Shooting team qualified in 10 Mtr Air Rifle event by winning a Bronze medal at the 14th Asian Shooting championship held at Doha, Qatar in Nov 2019.
Sergeant (Sgt) Shivpal Singh of the IAF Athletics team qualified in the Javelin throw event after an effort of 85.47 meters in ACNW League at South Africa on January 25,2020. Before this, Sgt Shivpal Singh, a member of the IAF Athletics team, had created history by winning the Gold medal in the Javelin throw event covering a distance of 83.33 Meters in Military World Games held at Wuhan, China in Oct 2019.
Master Warrant Officer (MWO) Ashok Kumar has been selected by United World Wrestling (UWW) as a wrestling referee to officiate in the Wrestling Competition of the Tokyo Olympics Games. He is the first Indian Referee who would be officiating in back-to-back Olympic Games.
Sergeant Alex Antony of the IAF Athletics team qualified in the 4X400 m Mixed relay. The air warrior participated in Senior Inter-State Athletics Championship held at Patiala, Punjab, from June 25 to June 29 this year and Indian Grand Prix-IV held at Patiala on June 21. By attaining the entry standards laid down by the International Association of Athletics Federation, he has secured his place at the Olympics.
Sergeant Noah Nirmal Tom of the IAF Athletics team qualified as a member of the Indian 4X400 m mixed relay team by his performance in the IAFF World championship 2019.
In the meanwhile the Tokyo Olympics continues to be referred to as “Tokyo Olympics 2020” since it was postponed from March 2020 to this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the organizers had agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
