Sports Authority of India approves Rs 57 lakh financial proposals for TOPS athletes in five sports

New Delhi: The Sports Authority of India Monday approved financial proposals to the tune of Rs 57 lakh for elite athletes of five sporting disciplines under in its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). The sporting disciplines which will benefit are athletics, table tennis, wrestling, para-athletics and shooting. The decision was taken at a meeting of the SAI’s Mission Olympic Cell, chaired by its director general Neelam Kapur here Monday. [caption id=“attachment_6503601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Jinson Johnson will be one of the beneficiaries on this scheme. Reuters[/caption] In athletics middle-distance runner Jinson Johnson, discuss thrower Seema Punia and triple jumper Arpinder Singh were the beneficiaries. “The committee has approved a year-long training programme for middle-distance runner Jinson Johnson in USA under coach Scott Simons. The training will be till the Tokyo Olympics,” a SAI statement read. “The committee also sanctioned the reimbursement of fees for discus thrower Seema Punia’s coach and fitness trainer for the support provided during the time of the Asian Games in 2018, along with the cost of medical treatment incurred by Punia, earlier this year. Purchase of recovery equipment for triple jumper Arpinder Singh was also sanctioned by the committee.” The committee has also approved the participation of table tennis players Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra in ITTF Bulgarian Open, to be played from August 13 to 18, besides clearing the former’s proposal to bear his fitness trainer’s expenses for one week at the Czech Open (August 20-25). In wrestling, the committee has approved international training opportunity for Greco-Roman wrestler Sajan in Armenia and Belarus as well as participation in two wrestling tournaments in Belarus (July 26-28) and Georgia (August 6-17). The committee has sanctioned coaching, equipment and tournament participation proposals of shooters Anjum Moudgil, Mehuli Ghosh, Manu Bhaker, Deepak Kumar and Rahi Sarnobat. It has also approved the participation of para-javelin thrower Sandeep Chaudhary and Sumit Antil in an international competition in Paris (August 29-30). The duo’s proposal to purchase sports kit and equipment have also been sanctioned.