Discus thrower Vikas Gowda and shooters Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput and Manavjit Sandhu have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme, according to a written reply of Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Minister said so far Rs. 96.8 lakh has been released out of the total allocation of more than Rs. 30 crore for 45 athletes, who have been identified as potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympics. The funds is being used to provide them customised training to these athletes.
As per a list provided by the Government, Gowda and the four above-mentioned shooters have been allocated Rs. 1.12 crore each. Four badminton players, Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, P. Kashyap and K. Srikanth have been allocated Rs. 90 lakh each.
The Minister said recent performance, consistency in performance, performance vis-a-vis international standards were among the criteria followed while selecting the athletes.
Sonowal said there had been a representation from doubles badminton players Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa for their inclusion in the TOP scheme and “there is provision for periodic review of performance of sportspersons, who reach the prescribed benchmark, for induction in the scheme.”
Funds allocated till 2016 Olympics:
Athletics: Vikas Gowda (men’s discus) Rs. 1.12 cr, Seema Antil (women’s discus) Rs. 75 lakh, Arpinder Singh (men’s triple jump), Khushbir Kaur (women’s 20km racewalking) and K.T. Irfan (men’s 20km racewalking) Rs. 45 lakh each.
Badminton: Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, P. Kashyap, K. Srikanth Rs. 90 lakh each, Gurusaidutt and H.S. Prannoy Rs. 60 lakh each.
Boxing: M.C. Mary Kom (women’s 51kg), Sarita Devi (women’s 60kg), Vijender Singh (men’s 75kg), Devendro Singh (men’s 49kg) Rs. 75 lakh each, Pinki Jangra (women’s 51kg), Shiva Thapa (men’s 56kg), Mandeep Jangra (men’s 60kg), Vikas Krishan (men’s 75kg) Rs. 45 lakh each.
Shooting: Abhinav Bindra (men’s 10m air rifle), Gagan Narang (men’s 50m rifle prone), Sanjeev Rajput (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions), Manavjit Sandhu (men’s trap) Rs. 1.12 cr each, Heena Sindhu (women’s 10m air rifle), Jitu Rai (men’s 10m air pistol, 50m free pistol), P.N. Prakash (men’s 10m air pistol), Vijay Kumar (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol) Rs. 75 lakh each, Ayonika Paul (women’s 10m air rifle), Apurvi Chandela (women’s 10m air rifle), Ankur Mittal (men’s double trap), Mohammad Asab (men’s double trap), Kynan Chenai (men’s trap) Rs. 60 lakh each, Shweta Chaudhary (women’s 10m air pistol), Malaika Goel (women’s 10m air pistol), Rahi Sarnobat (women’s 25m sports pistol) and Anisa Sayyed (women’s 25m sports pistol) Rs. 45 lakh each.
Wrestling: Sushil Kumar (men’s freestyle 74kg), Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s freestyle 66kg), Amit Kumar (men’s freestyle 57kg) Rs. 75 lakh each, Bajrang (men’s freestyle 66kg), Rahul Aware (men’s freestyle 57kg), Babita Kumari (women’s 53kg) and Vinesh Phogat (women’s 48kg) Rs. 45 lakh each.
Sailing: Varsha Gautam and Aishwarya Neduncheziyan (49erFX team) Rs. 45 lakh each.
