India should win at least half a dozen medals in London:Manoj Pingle

  Pune: Olympian Manoj Pingle believes that India has a good chance to win at least half a dozen medals in the London Olympics that begins after a week from now and expressed confidence that Lakshya’s stars would also make an important contribution to that tally.

The Pune-based boxer, who represented India at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, said this while interacting with the media on the sidelines of the launch of Lakshya’s Cheer our Olympians’ campaign ahead of the Olympics on Friday.

“It is heartening to see that organisations like Lakshya have come forward to support the players and have contributed in a big way in ensuring that many more players are qualifying for the Olympics,” said the Asian Games medallist, who was joined by former hockey international and now administrator Rekha Bhide and tennis stars like Arjun Kadhe, Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina.

Five Lakshya supported players – Jwala Gutta, V Diju, Ashwini Ponnappa (badminton), Jai Bhagwan (boxing) and Rahi Sarnobat (shooting) – have qualified for the London Games and the campaign is aimed at creating awareness about their efforts and encouraging city’s sports lovers to come forward and wish them luck for the Games. Lakshya tennis players’ mentor Rushmi Chakravarthy has also received a wild card along with Sania Mirza in the women’s doubles category.

“The Cheer our Olympians’ boards would be placed at Champions Sports, PYC Gymkhana, PICT college, Wadeshwar and a few other locations in Pune where sports enthusiasts should come in large numbers and wish the players,” said Lakshya Secretary Swastik Sirsikar.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhide said it was a good sign that more and more women athletes are leaving a mark for India on the international stage.