 "Paris Olympics 2024: Neeraj Chopra's gold leads to increased government spending on athletics")
It took one Olympic medal, a gold at that, for athletics’ profile to turn. Neeraj Chopra’s yellow metal at the Tokyo Olympics resulted in the government spending more on track and field athletes to better that achievement at the Paris Games.
According to official data from the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), the government spent a massive Rs. 96.08 crore on athletics.
It is the biggest chunk in the close to Rs. 470 crore which has been spent on India’s preparation for the Games across 16 disciplines. In the previous Olympic cycle, athletics received Rs. 5.38 crore from the TOPS funds.
A strong 29-member contingent , led by Chopra, will represent Indian athletics at the Paris Games starting July 26 where the country’s overall representation is expected to stand at 118.
The exact details of the funding for Tokyo 2021 are sketchy but sources say the expenditure this time is substantially higher to tend to higher expectations after the seven medals achieved last time.
The shuttlers were the second biggest gainers, receiving Rs. 72.02 crore followed by boxing (Rs. 60.93 crore) and shooting (Rs. 60.42 crore).
India secured a total of five badminton quotas for Paris, which includes two-time medallist PV Sindhu (women’s singles), HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen (men’s singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles) and Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto (women’s doubles).
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMen's hockey team will compete to match or better the bronze medal-winning show in Tokyo. They received funding of Rs. 41.29 crore in the last three years, while archery got Rs. 39.18 crore from the government.
The wrestlers received Rs. 37.80 crore funding, while weightlifting got Rs 26.98 crore.
Equestrian, sending one athlete to Paris , received the least financial support — little more than Rs. 95 lakh. Tennis got Rs. 1.67 crore, followed by golf (Rs. 1.74 crore), rowing (Rs. 3.89 crore), swimming (Rs. 3.9 crore), sailing (Rs. 3.78 crore) and judo (Rs. 6.3 crore).
The Indian table tennis team , which will be spearheaded by star paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, who will be India’s joint flag-bearer with Sindhu during the opening ceremony, got a funding of Rs. 12.92 crore from the government.
According to the official data, in terms of foreign exposure trips, the country’s shuttlers received the maximum support with 81 trips to be precise.
The shooters got 45 foreign exposure trips, followed by tennis (40), athletics (31), table tennis (28), wrestling (27), archery (24), boxing (23), sailing (22), hockey (18), judo (15), golf (12) and swimming (11).
The funding by the government has been done in three categories — Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) Senior Paris Cycle, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Elaborating on the process, a SAI source told news agency PTI that it kicks in after proposals are received from the athletes and respective national federations.
Besides, an athlete or a sport’s performance is also monitored and analysed over a period of time.
”The athletes who are interested in government support for their preparations for major events send their proposals to SAI, which puts those proposals in front of Mission Olympic Cell and after serious deliberations and debate, they are approved,” the source told PTI.
”It’s not just that, SAI also keeps track of athletes’ performances and the approvals are passed after analysing all these factors.” During the last three years, 41 national camps were conducted in shooting, which is the highest among all 16 disciplines.
Archery comes a close second with 41 camps, followed by athletics (36), hockey (33), boxing (17), rowing (16), wrestling (15) and badminton (13).
There were no camps for equestrian as most of the riders train abroad, while only one camp was organised for golf.
”We have been getting the best of facilities provided to us at SAI, Bengaluru, from food to accommodation to gym and other training facilities. We have been based here for a long time. We are also getting plenty of foreign exposure trips,” a Paris-bound hockey player said.
In terms of individual or sport-specific expenditure, the Indian men’s hockey team got the highest of Rs. 41.81 crore, which includes 76 national camps and 19 foreign exposure trips.
Chopra is second on the list with Rs. 5.72 crore, spent towards assistance for hiring coach Dr Klaus Bartonietz, assistance towards pre-Olympic camp in Europe, and competition in Europe, USA and South Africa.
Men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwik and Chirag received Rs. 5.62 crore for assistance towards appointment and extension of tenure of their coach Mathias Boe, hiring of video analyst and assistance for sparring partners.
Sindhu got Rs. 3.13 crore, mainly towards hiring of current foreign coach Agus Dwi Santoso, and training at Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule (LSVS) in Saarbrucken, Germany for 36 days.
Besides she also got assistance towards 17 foreign exposure trips through TOPS for her personal support staff, appointment of former foreign coaches Mohd Hafiz and Park Tae Sang.
Tokyo silver-medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu received Rs. 2.74 crore.
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