Tokyo Olympics 2020: PM Modi extends best wishes to Japan PM Yoshihide Suga ahead of games

Ahead of the commencement of Tokyo 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday provided his best wishes to Japan counterpart, Yoshihide Suga. After being postponed by a year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo 2020 is all set to begin. To mark the beginning, Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony will be held at the National Stadium on the evening of July 23. 

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi wrote, 'we look forward to a season of incredible performances by the world's best sportspersons'. 

'Moving forward' is the official theme of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 Opening Ceremony will take the words "United by Emotion" as the theme for the global event. According to the Olympic website "In the Opening Ceremony, we will aspire to reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games, to express our gratitude and admiration for the efforts we all made together over the past year, and also to bring a sense of hope for the future". It further said, "We hope it will be an experience that conveys how we all have the ability to celebrate differences, to empathise, and to live side by side with compassion for one another."

India at the Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 and the event will run up to August 8. The Olympic games were to be held last year but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 127 athletes across 18 sports disciplines from India are participating in Olympics. This is the biggest-ever contingent India is sending to any Olympics. The 69 cumulative events across the 18 sport disciplines that India will participate in is also the highest ever for the country.

Cash prize for India's medal winners

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday (July 22) announced a cash prize for India's medal winners at the mega-event. As India has sent its biggest ever contingent to Tokyo, Indian Olympics Association (IOA) Chief Narinder Batra during PM Modi's interaction with India's Tokyo-bound athletes had revealed that India will be sending a 228-strong contingent for the sports extravaganza in Tokyo, including 119 athletes. He had further stated that out of 119 athletes, 52 are women and 67 are men.