Indian Sports Minister launches official song at Tokyo Olympics

On Wednesday, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has launched the 'Cheer4India' song of the country's Olympic contingent and urged the public to wholeheartedly rally behind its athletes during the Tokyo Games. 

"I urge all my countrymen to listen to the song, share it to fellow citizens and also cheer for the entire Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics to show that we are behind them," Thakur said. He thanked Rahman and Ananya for composing the song in such difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra said "the launch of Team Indian official cheer song was a culmination of hard work by all the stakeholders in the last 18 months."

MoS (Sports) Nisith Pramanik, Sports Secretary Ravi Mittal, Sports Authority of India Director General Sandip Pradhan and IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta were also present on the occasion. 

The Sports Minister had notified sports fans about the formal send off of India's first batch of Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes from eight disciplines via a tweet. Thakur was accompanied by Minister of State for Sports, Nisith Pramanik, Sports Authority of India Director General Sandip Pradhan and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials. 

According to ANI, Thakur said, "Let me first thank and congratulate Ananya and AR Rahman for taking the initiative, this is the moment when you are doing something for passion. It was not easy to collaborate, we were in different bubbles and zones, it might be difficult for AR Rahman and Ananya to come together and make a cheer song for Team India. I am glad that we are going to launch it today. I want every Indian to listen to this song, share it as much as you can."