BCCI felicitates Tokyo Olympics 2020 medallists ahead of IPL 2022 season opener; Watch

In a key development, BCCI felicitated the Tokyo Olympics 2020 medallists for India, ahead of the IPL 2022 season opener on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. BCCI took to their official social media handles and shared a video where President Sourav Ganguly, Secretary Jay Shah, alongside other officials can be seen felicitating the athletes. Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain and the skipper of the Olympic bronze medal-winning Indian men’s hockey team, Manpreet Singh were the athletes who were felicitated with cash prizes.

Watch BCCI felicitating the Tokyo Olympics 2020 medallists:

More about the Tokyo Olympics 2020 medallists-

Chopra won the Olympic gold medal in the Javelin throw event during the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in August last year and became India’s first track and field athlete to earn the glory of an Olympic gold medal. His gold medal was also the second individual gold for India in the mega event, following Abhinav Bindra’s gold at the Beijing Olympics 2008. Chopra became a sensation in India following his gold medal-winning performance and has since become a household name in India. 

Lovlina Borgohain won the Olympic bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in the women’s welterweight boxing event. She won the medal in the 69kg category and became the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics. She is also the first female athlete and the second boxer from the state of Assam to be a part of the Indian contingent at the Olympics.

In the meantime, Manpreet Singh led the Indian men’s hockey team to a historic bronze medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. India earned a 5-4 victory over Germany in the match for third place and won an Olympic medal for India in men’s hockey for the first time in 41 years. The India men’s hockey team last won a gold medal during the Summer Olympics 1980 in Moscow.

It is pertinent to mention that, BCCI presented a cash prize of INR 1 crore to Chopra, INR 25 lakh to Borgohain, and INR 1.25 crore to the India men’s hockey team. Meanwhile, following the conclusion of the felicitation ceremony, the IPL 2022 kicked off with the CSK vs KKR match. While MS Dhoni hit a half-century to revive CSK from early hiccups and make score 131/2 in 20 overs, KKR openers Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer gave a strong start to KKR. KKR found themselves at 30/0 after five overs in the second innings.

(Image: Twitter-@IPL/BCCI)