Asian Games 2014: Hockey captain Sardar Singh to be flag bearer after five others refuse top honour

It seems that carrying the tricolour is no longer a matter of pride for some of our top sportspersons. At least this is the impression many got at Incheon, South Korea, where the Indian contingent is readying for the Games which commences today. (Friday). Many top Indian athletes inclduing ace shuttler Saina Nehwal refused to be the flag-bearer for the Asian Games opening ceremony giving some agonising moments to the officials accompanying the team. The choice has now fallen finally on Indian hockey captain, Sardar Singh, who will do the honours.

Other athletes who were considered for the honour but could not confirmed due to one reason or other include, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, shooter Abhinav Bindra, middle distance runner Sudha Singh and tennis start Sania Mirza.

According to a Indian Olympic Association official "this situation has arisen because of the wrong decision of Sports Ministry to only send players five days in advance before their scheduled event".

"There are so many players who are finding it difficult to get used to the conditions here as five days is too short a time to get acclimatised. That's the reason why more and more players are focussing more on their practice instead of doing any duty," the official said.

Though no official reason was given for Saina refusing the be the flagbearer, it was apparently done on the advice of her new coach Vimal Kumar.

"She has a match early next morning. Her coach advised her to focus her attention on winning a medal here and accepting to be a flag bearer could have made it hectic for her," said an official.

Bindra had refused to carry the National Flag during the recently held Commonwealth Games in Glasgow so he was also a no-go. Moreover, Bindra has been staying outside the Games Village , like he has done in previous events, to focus on winning his first Asian gold.

Indian middle-distance athlete Sudha Singh, a gold medallist in 5000m in the last Asian Games, also expressed her inability to carry the flag becasue of her set practice shedule on Wednesday. Glasgow gold medallist and last Asiad bronze winner shot putter Vikas Gowda was next in the list. But he has not yet checked in at the Games Village so far.

At this point, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza's name, too, was discussed amongst the top officials. But when it was learned that that like Gowda, she too had not arrived at the venue.