BCCI secretary Jay Shah announces ₹8.5 crore to support Indian Athletes in Paris Olympics 2024

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah announced that the Cricket administrative body will provide ₹8.5 crore to the India Olympic Association to support Indian athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympic.

"I am proud to announce that the @BCCI will be supporting our incredible athletes representing #India at the 2024 Paris Olympics. We are providing INR 8.5 Crores to the IOA for the campaign," Jay Shah posted on x. He also extended best wishes to the Indian contingent and encouraged them to "Make India proud! Jai Hind!"

Shah's announcement came the Paris Games are set to begin from July 26. As many as 117 athletes will represent India at the Paris Olympics. There will also be 140-strong support staff, making it a 257-member contingent.

A press release from the Ministry of Defence said 24 Armed Forces personnel are among the 117 Indian athletes who are set to "make the nation proud at the Paris Olympics, beginning July 26, 2024".

Among these 24 athletes, 22 are men, including star Javelin Thrower Subedar Neeraj Chopra, and two are women, which marks the maiden participation of female Service athletes at the Olympics.

Meanwhile, French authorities have reportedly recalled Paris 2024-branded metal water bottles containing excessive levels of the endocrine disruptor Bisphenol A, less than a week before the start of the Olympics.

The bottles made by French company Vilac contain levels of the chemical that are "not in compliance with regulations", the government website Rappel Conso said. The bottles, which were sold in France from late August 2023 until the beginning of June, do not feature on the Vilac online shop anymore.

Besides, according to Reuters, French security services rejected more than 4,000 applications for Paris 2024 Olympics accreditations, including over espionage and cyberattack concerns, the country's caretaker interior minister said on Sunday.