CHENNAI: The women’s hockey team has been included in the sports ministry’s flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) programme for the first time. It’s a vindication of sorts for the work Rani Rampal & Co have done in the last year or so. They were overlooked for the Scheme before the Asian Games in Jakarta but after the team qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, the ministry has included the team.
The men’s side has also been included. They were dropped from the list after the Asian Games last year. Interestingly, this doesn’t mean that the players will be eligible for Rs 50,000 a month that athletes under TOP Scheme qualify for. Instead, both teams will get customised support between now and the Olympics next July.
Boxer Neeraj Phogat, who is provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing a drugs test, has been dropped from the list. TOP Scheme additions: Shooting: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Mairaj Ahmed Khan, Tejaswini Sawant, Chinki Yadav.
Archery: Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Bombayla Devi. Hockey: Men’s and women’s teams. Para-archery: Vivek Chikara, Harvinder Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar. Para-athletics: Nishad Kumar, Ajeet Singh, Yogesh Kathuniya, T Mariyappan. Para-badminton: Nagar Krishna.