The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, personally delivered a memento of London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games to India’s six medal winning athletes on Monday. Every nation which competed at London Games was represented by an individual copper petal on the spectacular Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, which burnt throughout the summer’s Games.
The petals are now being offered to each country as a legacy of their sporting achievements this summer, and will be delivered round the globe before the end of the year. The mayor met Pradeep Kumar Deb, secretary, Department of Sports of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, acting president of IOA, bronze medallist boxer MC Mary Kom and silver medal winning pistol shooter Vijay Kumar, to present the set of petals at a ceremony hosted by British High Commission.
On the occasion, Mary Kom said she hoped that India will do better in the next Olympics at Rio in 2016. ‘I am very happy we are getting the Olympic petal next to Brazil. I hope Indian team will do better in the next Olympic,’ she said.
In total, 204 Olympic petals and 164 Paralympic petals will be offered to competing nations. India’s was the third set of petals to be presented, with the first handed over by London Organising Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games chairman, Sebastian Coe, to British Olympic Association.
‘I want to congratulate all the incredible Indian athletes we have here today. India did better than it’s ever done before in the Olympics. Well done! Fantastic achievement. The reason we want to give these petals to Indian Olympic community is to inspire them to be great Olympic champions in the future,’ said Johnson at ceremony.
The petals are now being offered to each country as a legacy of their sporting achievements this summer, and will be delivered round the globe before the end of the year. The mayor met Pradeep Kumar Deb, secretary, Department of Sports of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, acting president of IOA, bronze medallist boxer MC Mary Kom and silver medal winning pistol shooter Vijay Kumar, to present the set of petals at a ceremony hosted by British High Commission.
On the occasion, Mary Kom said she hoped that India will do better in the next Olympics at Rio in 2016. ‘I am very happy we are getting the Olympic petal next to Brazil. I hope Indian team will do better in the next Olympic,’ she said.
In total, 204 Olympic petals and 164 Paralympic petals will be offered to competing nations. India’s was the third set of petals to be presented, with the first handed over by London Organising Committee of Olympic and Paralympic Games chairman, Sebastian Coe, to British Olympic Association.
‘I want to congratulate all the incredible Indian athletes we have here today. India did better than it’s ever done before in the Olympics. Well done! Fantastic achievement. The reason we want to give these petals to Indian Olympic community is to inspire them to be great Olympic champions in the future,’ said Johnson at ceremony.