SINDHU, Ace Shuttler, Will Be Flag Bearer For Indian Contingent In 2018 CWC In Australia

INDIA’s badminton sensation PV Sindhu will be the flag-bearer for her country’s contingent at the opening ceremony of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games -CWG. The Rio Olympics Silver Medallist, who reached the semi-finals of the All England championships last week, was selected by the IOA as the flag-bearer after a meeting on Friday. Participants from 70 Commonwealth countries have confirmed participation in the international multi games event being hosted for the fifth time by Australia. This will be the first time in the last three editions of the Commonwealth Games that a badminton player would be the flag-bearer for her country’s participants. The XX1 CWG will be held in the Australian State of Queensland between April 4 and 15.Meanwhile; ace pistol shooter Heena Sidhu enters the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Heena was last month presented The Shooter of the Year Award at the third Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Awards (TOISA). Her achievements included   winning of three gold medals and another at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships. Paired with Jitu Rai, she won the 10m mixed team air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Delhi, the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol series in Gabala, Azerbaijan, and ISSF World Cup final. Individually, Sidhu won a gold medal in the 10m air pistol event at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships and bronze medals at the 10th Asian Championship and the Grand Prix of Liberation Plaza Shooting Championships in the Czech Republic. Another Hyderabad based shuttler Kidambi Srikanth will chase his golden dream at Gold Coast. He trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy and is supported by the GoSports Foundation, Bangalore. He is also sponsored by Yonex. In 2018, he was awarded the Padma Shri.The Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village will provide accommodation and services to 6,600 athletes and officials in 1,252 permanent dwellings: 1170 one and two bedroom apartments and 82 three bedroom townhouses at Southport, Gold Coast. Apart from the 26 approved sports administered by Commonwealth Governing Bodies, a minimum of ten core sports and maximum of seventeen sports must be included in any Commonwealth Games schedule. The current approved sports include the 10 core sports: athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey, lawn bowls, netball (for women), rugby sevens, squash, swimming and weightlifting. Integrated disabled competitions are also scheduled for the Games in nine sports: swimming, athletics, cycling, table tennis, power lifting and lawn bowls. Along these events for the first time EAD events in triathlon will be held, with the medals being added to the final tally for each nation. Record 38 para events will be contested at these games. Beach Volleyball has been included as the 18th sport later. The program will be broadly similar to that of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with the major changes being the dropping of judo, the reintroduction of basketball, the debut of women’s rugby sevens and beach volleyball, says Wikipedia. The CWG is held every four years. The 2022 CWG will be held in Birmingham, United Kingdom. (image-The Indian Express)