India’s flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) includes 3 new Sportspersons

On Wednesday, Target Olympic Podium Scheme included MC Mary Kom, Yeshaswini Singh Deswal, and shuttler Sai Praneeth into the list of 12 top sportspersons. TOPS scheme for 2020 Olympics also added the six-time world champion, Mary Kom, among 10 boxers. The list also comprises of Amit Panghal (men’s 52 kg), Sonia Chahal (women’s 57 kg), Neeraj (women’s 57 kg), Nikhat Zareen (women’s 51 kg), Kavinder Singh Bisht (men’s 57 kg), Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 69 kg), Vikas Krishan (men’s 75 kg), Shiva Thapa (men’s 63 kg) and Manish Kaushik (men’s 63 kg).

Shooter Deswal, 22-year-old, gold medal winner was included in the ISSF World Cup in Rio De Janeiro. Deswal has acquired gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event and a silver medal in the mixed team event. Both her hard work and gold medal obtained India an Olympic quota in the women’s 10m air pistol event.

Last month, Sai Praneeth, 27 years old Badminton player won a bronze in the World Championships. He became the first men’s singles player in 36 years to win a medal. The Badminton star has managed himself to be in world number 15. Olympics allow sending two shuttlers per singles events from a country and from India, Sai Praneeth is the second player to represent in this event.

The following parameters were considered to choose athletes- Asian Games and Asian Championships, performance of competing international counterparts in the last three years, high performance age of a typical Olympic medallist specific to each event, World Championships, global performance trends from most recent Olympic Games, performance of Indian athletes in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and their progression chart, reports from NSF, high performance managers, project officers and coaches.

Along with the selection of the athletes, financial scheme worth Rs 1.4 crore were cleared in 11 major sporting disciplines. Sports Authority of India (SAI) gave a release to wrestling, archery, para-badminton, weightlifting, athletics, tennis, table tennis, shooting, badminton, para-shooting and para-archery.

A long-term growth plan for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics was also discussed by MOC.