When the project was set up in November 2005 by Lakshmi Niwas Mittal in collaboration with tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi, the focus of the Mittal Champions Trust was the London Games in 2012. However, with world champion Abhinav Bindra doubling up as the Olympic champion in Beijing in 2008, the expectations have risen quite high.
“If we can win two medals, never mind the colour, it will be an achievement. In certain sports, the result is a lottery. We have invested heavily in two such sports, archery and shooting'', said the CEO of Mittal Champions Trust, Manisha Malhotra, as she interacted with The Hindu here on Friday, about the preparations of the athletes for the London Games.
With the government providing phenomenal support, and with the Olympic Gold Quest also pulling its weight in tuning a bunch of athletes, there is a general belief that India can better its haul of three medals in the last Games.
Quite optimistic, following a fair degree of success in the last Asian Games, Manisha, an international tennis player of considerable achievement including the Asian Games mixed doubles silver with Mahesh in 2002, said that double trap marksman Ronjan Sodhi was perhaps her best bet for London.
Quite unlucky to miss out on an entry for the Beijing Games, Ronjan has since been in terrific form, shooting the world records, and winning World Cup and World Cup Final gold medals, apart from pinning the lone gold medal for shooting for India in the Guangzhou Asian Games last year.
Manisha observed that Ronjan had been handling every aspect of training diligently, and may train more with the Indian coach Moraad Ali Khan for strategic reasons.
In the coming months, though he would be based abroad for the most part.
Champion Abhinav Bindra who qualified in the last World Cup in Munich, has been supported with a physio and a fitness trainer. He has also been working with a mental trainer Radhika Singh, so as to regain the intensity of motivation and the hunger for success.
Bright prospect
“Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu should get an Olympic quota in the Asian championship. She is a bright prospect,” Manisha said, even as she sounded concerned about Olympic finalist and world record holder Suma Shirur not striking a quota-place yet, owing to her fluctuating form.
Manisha was quite enthusiastic about her archers, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro who along with Deepika Kumari had tamed the world and Olympic champion Korea, on way to the silver medal in the last world championship.
“The Korean coach Lee Wang Woo, with us from 2008, has worked quite hard with the archers, and his services most of the time has been utilised by the whole team. He has trained many to the Olympic gold,” said Manisha, quite sure that the men's team would also quality for the London Games and enhance India's medal chances.
With the qualifying process just about to begin in disciplines like boxing and wrestling, Manisha said that the picture would be a lot clear soon, as the Trust backed a clutch of talented boxers and wrestlers.
Easiest way
“Women's boxing will provide the easiest way to an Olympic medal,” remarked Manisha.
With only 12 boxers to be selected in each of the three weight categories, she argued that a good draw for a boxer may mean that she has to win just one bout after a bye to ensure an Olympic medal.
Incidentally, Manisha is also the chairperson of AIBA Women's Commission.
''We are talking to an American coach, Christy Halbert, to hire her services. The women's qualifying event is scheduled next May, and we have ample time to tune our boxers'', said Manisha, who has her hopes pinned on Sarita Devi and Meena Rani.
