Eleven LPU Students to represent India at Tokyo Olympics

Jalandhar: Eleven students from Lovely Professional University have been selected as a part of the Indian contingent that will represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, scheduled to be held from 23rd July to 8th August 2021. The players will represent the nation in Wrestling, Hockey Athletics and Paralympics. This is the highest number of students ever to get selected to any Indian Olympic contingent, from an Indian private university.

Eleven LPU students will represent the nation in wrestling, hockey, athletics (javelin throw and sprinting) and Paralympics. Manpreet Singh, the Hockey team captain and LPU’s MBA student will be India's flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. The star wrestler of India, Bajrang Punia, who is pursuing M.A in Public Administration at LPU, has been selected for Wrestling (61 Kgs). Indian para-athlete, Nishad Kumar (B.A) has been picked for Paralympics High Jump.

The Indian track and field athlete and a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in Indian Army, Neeraj Chopra (B.A) has been selected for his acumen in the javelin throw. Amoj Jacob (P.B.Ed), the Indian sprinter specializing in the 400 meters and the 800 meters, has been selected for the 4x400 mt Relay Race for men. Seven players of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team are LPU students. They include Hockey team captain, Manpreet Singh (MBA) along with, Rupinderpal Singh (MBA), Harmanpal Singh (MBA), Mandeep Singh (BA), Shamsher Singh (MBA), Dilpreet Singh (BA) and Varun Kumar (MBA).

Mr. Ashok Mittal, Chancellor, Lovely Professional University said, “We congratulate all our students for making it to the Indian contingent for Tokyo Olympics 2021 and are elated that they will get an opportunity to represent the country. The entire LPU community along with the nation will pray that they win a medal at the Olympics and make us even more proud.”

“At LPU, we have been investing extensively in building world-class sports infrastructure and hiring top trainers to ensure our students bring laurels to the country. The efforts have started to show results now with several of our students winning national and international competitions over the last few years. We are confident that many more students will follow the path of superstars like Manju Rani, Unnati Sharma, Amoj, Neeraj and Nishad and make us proud in the years to come”, added Mr. Mittal.                   

LPU provides 100% scholarship to its promising sports athletes, which includes full fee waiver, free lodging and boarding, financial assistance for buying sports equipment, participating in various tournaments and coaching and infrastructure. The university has one of the finest academic and sports infrastructure with Olympic size all-weather indoor swimming pool, diving pool and warming up pool, 16 badminton courts, multiple squash courts, basketball courts, shooting range and more. Also, LPU gained number one position amongst all the private universities in the country at Khelo India National Universities Competition 2020.

LPU students have won laurels at several national and international level sports competitions in the past as well. Manju Rani, the famous Indian Boxer who won a Silver medal at the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships completed her graduation from LPU. Unnati Sharma, the B.Com student of LPU won Silver medal at Senior National Ranking Judo Championship 2019. Also, Nishad Kumar made Asian record for winning Gold in men’s high-jump category-T46/47 at 12th Fazza International Championships for World Para Athletics Grand Prix-2021 held in Dubai.

 Not only this, last year, LPU’s contribution in encouraging sports talent in the country was recognized by the European Commission and the university bagged a project of INR 9 Crores to lead a consortium of 11 universities to research on sports education in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia under the Erasmus plus project. The initiative is aimed at capacity building in the field of Sports, Physiotherapy, and Physical Education through research and community development. Out of 1005 applications that the project received from across the globe, LPU became the only university from India to be designated the lead coordinator.