- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
POPULAR Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have come together with other sporting entities like Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), a professional table-tennis league in India, FC Goa, which competes in the Indian Super League football competition, and others to form a Fan Army to cheer India’s Olympic contingent in Tokyo.
The fan movement comprises 31 million supporters who will root for the Indian athletes at the Games which will kick off on July 23. The Tokyo Games will be held behind closed doors because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and keeping in mind the restrictions that are in place in India, the movement will be a virtual one.
ALSO READ: Wrestler Bajrang Punia wants no drama in early rounds at Tokyo Games
The other entities are football clubs like Gokulam Kerala FC, Real Kashmir FC and Shillong Lajong FC and Cricket Fauj, a platform comprising fans of Indian cricket.
The initiative has been taken by MPL (Mobile Premier League) Sports Foundation, which is the principal partner of the Indian Olympic contingent.
“It is a matter of great honour and privilege for us at the MPL Sports Foundation that all of these illustrious clubs, franchises, and fan groups have come together to make India’s first Olympic Fan Army. We will rally behind our athletes as they seek to make the entire nation proud at Tokyo. Here’s to our heroes,” Sai Srinivas, Trustee, MPL Sports Foundation, and co-founder and chief executive officer, Mobile Premier League, said.
1924 Paris Olympics: Hollywood actor Johnny Weissmuller won 3 golds
KKR, which is co-owned by Indian actors Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, are bringing all their fans together to be a part of the Fan Army and they were joined by the other teams. Fans of UTT, India’s only TT league, will be closely watching and cheering the likes of Achanta Sharat Kamal, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Manika Batra and G Sathiyan – India’s table tennis challenge at the quadrennial event.
Various activities have been planned under the movement, including a call-out to the entire fanbase to become fans of the Indian Olympic team, know them, watch their events and cheer them.
A large engagement exercise has also been planned with the fans submitting their fan moments through photographs and videos.
‘Humans of Bombay’, an online project which works on stories of people, have been roped in to make the fans know more about the Indian athletes who will sweat it out to bring the country laurels at the highest podium. Stories are already being produced that will tell the fans about athletes like hockey captain Rani Rampal, archer Deepika Kumari, fencer Bhavani Devi, shot putter Tajinder Singh Toor, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, etc.
