Wrestler Ravi Dahiya included in TOPS, no extension for Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik

Wrestler Ravi Dahiya included in TOPS, no extension for Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik

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Young wrestler Ravi Dahiya, who recently won a World championships bronze medal, was included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) while struggling Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik was dropped from the program. Weightlifter Ragala Venkat Rahul has also been excluded from the TOPS.

20-year-old Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya, who recently won a World championships bronze medal, was on Friday included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) while struggling Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, who crashed out in the opening round of the 62kg women’s category in the World Championships, was dropped from the program.

The decision was taken by the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell in the latest changes made in the TOPS. Ravi won a bronze in the men’s 57kg freestyle category in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, which also ensured an Olympic quota for India in next year’s Tokyo Games.

Sakshi, who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has been struggling for long, crashing out in the opening round of the 62kg women’s category in Nur-Sultan.

Weightlifter Ragala Venkat Rahul has also been excluded from the TOPS. The committee sanctioned weight-lifter Mirabai Chanu’s proposal for financial assistance to have a physiotherapist-cum-masseuse Shivani Bharuka after she created a national record by lifting 201kg (114kg+87kg) at the weightlifting world championships. Bharuka will attend to Mirabai at the national camp till the Tokyo Olympics.

The committee has sanctioned the proposal of wrestler Pooja Dhanda to train for a period of one month in her hometown of Hisar under the supervision of coach Fanel Carp of Romania.

At the recently held meeting, the committee also cleared financial proposals of over Rs 70 lakhs.

Shooting, Table Tennis and Weightlifting national federations also shared their roadmap for 2020, 2024 and 2028 Olympics with regards to strategy, planning, and talent identification during the meeting.

The Mission Olympic Cell sanctioned overseas training for men’s 3000m steeplechase runner Avinash Sable in Colorado Springs, under Scott Simons till the Tokyo Olympics.

The committee also cleared the proposal of Sameer Verma to participate in three international badminton competitions, Dutch Open, Macau Open, and Korea Masters in October and November respectively. The committee also sanctioned the proposal of Olympic medalist shuttler Saina Nehwal to travel with her fitness trainer Swaroop Sinha in seven international tournaments till December 2019.

In shooting, the training, ammunition, and competition requirements of seven shooters including Anjum Moudgil, Rahi Sarnobat, Manu Bhaker, Abhishek Verma, Lakshay Sheoran, Mehuli Ghosh, and Anish Bhanwala were also approved.

The committee also cleared a combined proposal of five para-badminton players – Pramod Bhagat, Suhas Yathiraj, Manoj Sarkar, Sukant Kadam and Tarun for participation in the Denmark Open Para-Badminton International.

The TOPS program provides Rs 50,000 financial assistance to its athletes monthly.

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