Who was the first flag bearer for India at the Olympic Games?

Purma Banerjee, a sprinter, was India's first flag bearer at the Olympic Games. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of the 1920 Antwerp Olympics in Belgium. This was the first time India sent an official team to the Olympics.

India at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics:

The team was sent with the help of Sir Dorabji Tata, the industrialist and son of Jamsetji Tata, who supported and partly funded the effort. Dorabji Tata later became the first president of the Indian Olympic Association, formed in 1927.

The team had six members: four athletes (including Purma Banerjee and P. D. Chaugule) and two wrestlers (Kumar Navale and Randhir Shinde).

India did not win any medals at these Games.

India's earlier Olympic appearance:

At the 1900 Paris Olympics, Norman Pritchard, an athlete of British origin born in Calcutta, competed and won two silver medals in the 200 m and the 200 m hurdles. The International Olympic Committee officially lists these medals under India, but he was not part of an organised Indian team.

Some notable Indian flag bearers:

• Shiny Abraham Wilson (1992 Barcelona) was the first Indian woman to carry the flag.
• Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore carried it in 2008 (Beijing).

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the flag bearers were P. V. Sindhu and Achanta Sharath Kamal.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Dhyan Chand was the hockey captain in 1936 and the flag bearer at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but he was not the first.
• ✗Norman Pritchard was India's first Olympic athlete and medallist (1900), not a flag bearer.
• ✗Jaipal Singh Munda was the first captain of the Indian hockey team at the Olympics (1928).