Puri,  Renowned sand artist and Padma Shri awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a piece of sand art to wish the Indian contingent success in the Tokyo Olympics, which are set to begin on Friday.

Pattnaik has joined the chorus of voices to cheer for India as part of the Indian Olympic Fan Army, an initiative by MPL Sports Foundation, to give the Indian Olympic team its very own fan group.

MPL Sports Foundation is the principal partner of the Indian Olympics team to Tokyo 2020. Pattnaik, the award-winning artist, known for his larger-than-life sculptures on a wide range of topics, unveiled a sand installation on Thursday that aims to inspire everyone to become fans of Indian athletes in their pursuit of Olympic glory.

The sand art by Pattnaik on Puri beach features engravings of the various Olympic disciplines as well as Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi's rallying cry of #Cheer4India.

More than 31 million fans from top sports teams and clubs in India like Kolkata Knight Riders, FC Goa, Gokulam Kerala FC, Ultimate Table Tennis, Real Kashmir FC, Shillong Lajong FC and Cricket Fauj have already joined the Indian Olympic Fan Army.

The Tokyo Olympics run from July 23 to August 8.