Grand opening of the Paris Olympics

Participating teams were put on boats and 'cruise' to march past the river Seine. The March Past, which started from the Pont de Austerlies in Paris, ended by reaching the world-famous Eiffel Tower . 85 boats were used for the march past the inauguration ceremony which took place amid tight security.

In March past, Shantu Shrestha and Manita Shrestha Pradhan carried the flag of Nepal. In view of gender equality, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has started allowing male and female athletes to carry the national flag in the march past from the Tokyo Olympics-2020 edition. In

March Past, there were 8 participants from Nepal including Shantu and Manita. Nepalese team's 'Safe the Mission' National Sports Council Member-Secretary Tanklal Ghising, Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) Vice President and Executive Director Chaturananda Raj Vaidya, NOC Vice President Jyoti Rana, NOC Secretary Ramji Bahadur Shrestha, swimmer Alexander Shah and badminton player Prince Dahal. The participants were .

The teams of Namibia and Nauru along with Nepal were kept in the same boat for the March Past . There were only about 7000 players and officials from 206 countries who participated in the march past. France hosted the Olympics after 100 years. The last time was the eighth edition of 1924 in the city of Paris. This is the third time that France has hosted the Olympics .

The 1900 Olympics were also held in France. In the 33rd edition of the Paris Olympics, 7 players from Nepal are participating in 6 games. 3 male and 4 female players are participating . Shantu Shrestha in table tennis and Prince Dahal in badminton will compete in men's singles . Alexander Shah will participate in men's 100m freestyle .

Sushmita of shooting 10m air rifle, Duwana Lama of swimming 200m freestyle, Manita Shrestha Pradhan of judo under 57 kg and Santoshi Shrestha of athletics will present Nepal's challenge in marathon (42.195 km). All the players except Santoshi are in Paris. Santoshi will arrive in Paris on July 30. Santoshi's match is on August 11, the last day of the Paris Olympics.

This is the 'debut' Olympics of all seven Nepali athletes. Since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Nepal has participated in the Summer Olympics, and this is the first time that Nepal is going to participate in table tennis and badminton. In that, Shantu is going to participate in the Olympics after passing the qualifying stage. By becoming the first in the South Asian Olympic qualifying competition held in Nepal, Shantu secured a place in Paris Olympics-2024.

Shantu is the third Nepali athlete to achieve such an achievement in the Summer Olympics. Earlier, Sangina Vaidya had represented Nepal in the 2004 Athens Olympics and Deepak Bishta had passed the 2008 Beijing Olympics selection stage. About 10,500 athletes from 206 nations will compete in 329 events at the Paris Olympics.

The Olympics, which are held every 4 years, have taken place in three years this time . The 32nd edition of the Tokyo Olympics was scheduled for 2020, but due to the Covid-19, it took place in 2021. Meanwhile, on the day before the opening ceremony, the Nepali Embassy in France welcomed the Nepali team participating in the Paris Olympics and wished them success.