Paris Olympics opening ceremony: India will have 78 athletes, officials from 12 disciplines in Parade of Nations

Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha and Chef-de-Mission Gagan Narang have given top priority to athletes in the composition of the contingent in the Parade of Nations.

All athletes who made themselves available will be part of the parade. Many players will be in action in different competitions on Saturday and IOA has been respectful of their decision to prioritise preparation and not take part in the opening ceremony.

Star shuttler PV Sindhu and seasoned table tennis star Sharath Kamal will be the flagbearers for India in the opening ceremony.

Both stars will become the first athletes from their respective sports to be India's flag-bearers at such a big event.

Before the opening day, India has already made its mark at the Paris Olympics. India's men's and women's archery teams directly qualified for the quarter-final in the respective events.

India named 117 athletes in the contingent for the Paris Olympics. India will be getting their first shot at a medal during the mixed team air rifle medal matches scheduled for July 27 at the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux.

Two Indian teams, Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal, will be competing in this event. Manu Bhaker will compete in two individual pistol events and the 10 m air pistol mixed team competition as well.

Prominent athletes from the 12 disciplines:

Archery: Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai.

Badminton: PV Sindhu

Boxing: Lovlina Borgohain

Equestrian: Anush Agarwalla

Golf: Shubhankar Sharma

Hockey: Krishan Pathak, Nilakanta Sharma and Jugraj Singh

Judo: Tulika Mann

Sailing: Vishnu Saravanan and Nethra Kumanan

Shooting: Anjum Moudgil, Sift Kaur Samra, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Anish.

Swimming: Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghu

Table Tennis: Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra

Tennis: Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal and Sriram Balaji. (ANI)