Olympics-Ayim and Hirayama 指名するd Canada's 旗 持参人払いのs for Tokyo Games
July 19 (Reuters) - Women's basketball player Miranda Ayim and men's rugby sevens co-captain Nathan Hirayama will be Canada's 旗 持参人払いのs at this week's 開会式 for the Tokyo Olympics, the Canadian Olympic 委員会 said on Monday.
The July 23-Aug. 8 Tokyo Games will 示す the third and final Olympics for Ayim, who has 代表するd Canada 国祭的な for 15 years and was part of the team that won gold on home 国／地域 at the 2015 Pan American Games.
"I feel incredibly honoured to lead Team Canada と一緒に Nathan into the 開始 儀式 and to be 代表するing not only my fellow 競技者s of Team Canada, but also the greater Team Canada: our nation," Ayim, who 以前 発表するd she would be retiring after Tokyo, said in a news 解放（する）.
The fourth-階級d women's basketball team will start their 追求（する），探索（する） for a first Olympic メダル on July 26 against Serbia.
Olympic debutant Hirayama has been a 重要な member of Canada's sevens teams since joining the squad in 2006 as an 18-year-old.
Hirayama has competed in all three Pan American Games that have 含むd rugby sevens, winning two gold メダルs and one silver. This will be the first time Canada has a men's rugby sevens team at the オリンピック.
"I've been watching the Olympics for my entire life and understand the honour and 特権 that comes with 存在 the 旗 持参人払いの," said Hirayama. "It's something that I've never even dreamt of."
The men's rugby sevens open their Olympics with a pair of matches on July 26 against 2016 Rio Games 走者-up Britain and 統治するing 支持する／優勝者s Fiji.
Canada will send a team of 371 競技者s to the pandemic-延期するd Tokyo Olympics that will be the country's largest Olympic 次第で変わる／派遣部隊 since the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. (報告（する）／憶測ing by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
