IPL 2022: BCCI felicitates Tokyo Olympic medal winners before start of CSK vs KKR game

Ahead of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) felicitated Tokyo 2020 medal winners of India. To note, the BCCI last year announced that it will conduct a ceremony to honour the winners from the Tokyo Olympics with mementos and cash prizes. However, the board did not get a chance to hold any event due to various reasons.

On March 26 (Saturday), BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah honored Tokyo Olympics medal winners including gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Lovlina Borgohain, and PV Sindhu. The Indian hockey team, who won an Olympic medal after 41 years, were also felicitated in the event along with the cash prizes.

Indian Olympic contingent won record seven medals during Tokyo Olympics 2020

The Indian Olympic contingent won a record number of seven medals during the Tokyo Olympics. Indians won one gold, two silvers, and four bronze medals. Creating history, Neeraj Chopra became the first-ever Indian to win an individual gold medal in the ‘Track and Field’ event during the Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 Gold Medal winner Neeraj Chopra felicitated by Jay Shah and Sourav Ganguly.
Good gesture by BCCI ahead of IPL 2022 start!#IPL2022 #CSKvsKKR pic.twitter.com/JxcsQi7OGz

— OneCricket (@OneCricketApp) March 26, 2022

It is to be noted that the board has stopped conducting the high-profile opening ceremony of the IPL for the past three years. As per several reports, BCCI used to spend around INR 30-40 crore on the opening ceremony with several Bollywood actors and global stars performing.

Meanwhile, defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the opening game of the tournament. Winning the toss, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer decided to have a bowl first. Pace bowler Umesh Yadav managed to get the wickets of both openers – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway – in his opening spell.

Robin Uthappa did try to provide some stability to the CSK innings before he was outfoxed by spinner Varun Chakaravarthy. There was also a run-out involving Ravindra Jadeja, selling his teammate Ambati Rayudu down the river, while Shivam Dube also failed to make an impact. CSK will have to revisit their batting soon, and though there is nothing much to worry so early the team should take some action soon.