Tokyo Olympics: Table tennis star Manika Batra sports inspiring nail art of India flag

Tokyo Olympics-bound table tennis star Manika Batra on Sunday shared a picture of her inspiring nail art featuring the Indian flag ahead of her planned campaign at the Summer Games. In the picture, Batra can be seen sporting the Indian flag on her index and pinkie finger via nail art, while the Olympics logo featured on her thumb nail. The 26-year-old's middle and ring finger had the word 'INDIA' written on them.

Earlier, badminton player PV Sindhu also shared a photo of herself wearing similar nail art. However, Sindhu's fingers only featured the Olympics logo of five coveted rings. 

Batra is currently the top-ranked female table tennis player in India and 63rd in the world. The 2018 Commonwealth gold medalist will represent India in the Women's Singles category alongside Sutirtha Mukherjee. Batra also has a chance to bring glory for India in the mixed doubles category, where she is expected to pair with veteran star Sharath Kamal. 

Indian contingent arrives in Japan for Tokyo Olympics

An 88-member Indian contingent including 54 athletes arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for the upcoming Olympic Games which is scheduled to start on July 23, 2021. Athletes and their support staff in eight disciplines namely badminton, archery, hockey, judo, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, and table tennis, arrived in Tokyo.

The first batch of Indian athletes was given a formal send-off on Saturday at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Union Minister for
Sports & Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur and MoS Nisith Pramanik conveyed their best wishes to the athletes.

The Tokyo Olympics was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, however, due to the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, the games had to be shelved for a year. Tokyo Olympics is now slated to be held from July 23 to August 8. A total of 119 athletes from India will take part in the rescheduled Olympics, including 52 female & 67 male participants. 

Image: PTI