Rio 2016: Brazil welcomes Indian contingent

Women’s hockey team members Deepika Thakur (centre) and Preety Dubey dance with local performers at the welcome ceremony in Rio. (Photo: AP)

A short display of Brazilian culture including music and dance greeted the Indian contingent at the formal welcome ceremony in the Games Village for the 31st Olympic Games here.

One of the first and prominent ceremonies of the Games, which lasted about 45 minutes, saw more than half of the Indian contingent in attendance. They were dressed in white India tracksuits and looked upbeat on eve of the Games.

Indian Olympic Association president Narayanswamy Ramachandran and chef-demission Rakesh Gupta presented the mayor of the village, ex-player basketball player and two-time Olympic medallist Janeth Arcain, with gifts.

One of them was a pair of silver elephants and another a gold plated peacock with the IOA logo embossed at the bottom of the frame.

The show of Brazilian rhythms greeted the India squad, alongside those from the Bahamas, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Norway.

The ceremony included raising of each nation’s flag and playing the national anthems. The show started with a tribal dance before moving on to an assortment of Brazilian music, including forró, samba and bossa nova. Songs by late Brazilian legends Raul Seixas and Tim Maia was also played alongside some latest hits.

The village mayor gave a speech about the importance of the Games for humanity and welcomed the teams to Rio.

Those present included shooters, Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa, Gurpreet Singh, Chain Singh, athletes Khushbir Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, the women’s hockey team, swimmers Sajan Prakash and Shivani Katariya along with a few coaches and officials. Also present were officials from the Indian Embassy in Brazil. India will be fielding its largest contingent of 120 athletes in 15 disciplines.

In 2012 London, India had finished with six medals, that included two silver and four bronze.

The Village, officially opened on July 24, has 31 buildings (India athletes are housed in building no. 31) and has 3,604 apartments. It will host more than 17,000 athletes and officials during its peak times.