Finally, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) list in both the Core and Development groups have undergone a much-needed overhaul. Some disciplines have seen a considerable number of omissions while sports like shooting and badminton have not seen much change. The Core group has been slashed to 42 from 120 during the Olympics in 2024. Some sports like equestrian, fencing, golf, sailing and tennis have been dropped altogether, at least for the time being.
The TOPS, sports ministry's flagship programme for elite and up-and-coming top athletes in select Olympic disciplines, needed an overhaul after the Paris Olympics last year. However, TOPS Chief Executive Officer was appointed only in December and the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) was also reconstituted and held its first meeting in early January. This meeting served more like an induction/orientation programme. A decisive step needed to be taken as early as possible because we are already into the sixth month into the LA2028 Olympic cycle.
The first serious MOC meeting was held on February 11 under sports secretary Sujata Chaturvedi in the chair. As highlighted by this newspaper, TOPS needed to make some hard decisions regarding the list of athletes and going by the numbers in Core – 42 – it seems to have shown some intent. The list just before the Olympic Games in Paris had risen to 120 athletes. It is understood that addition can be done on the basis of exceptional results by athletes. The objective of the TOPS is to provide assistance to athletes without any hindrance that includes foreign training, international competition, equipment and coaching camp. The athletes get a stipend of Rs 50,000 in Core and Rs 25000 in development. The Development group has 122 athletes.
In athletics, the numbers have come down from 32 to just three. The 4x400m relay teams have been shifted to development group and only three athletes figure on the Core list – double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable, who has made a considerable improvement in his 3000m steeplechase timing and won medals at Commonwealth and Asian Games and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar have been retained. The development group has about 13 individual athletes like Shaili Singh, Jyothi Yarraji and two six-member 4x400m men's and women's teams. The Athletics Federation of India right now is in the rebuilding process of the relay teams, women in particular.
Similarly, in boxing, only two boxers have been included – Tokyo Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain and multiple World Championships medallist Nikhat Zareen. Rowing has been shifted to the development group where three rowers have been added.
Former world No 1 badminton player Kidambi Srikanth, who has been struggling for form over the last couple of years has been dropped from the list along with Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner Tanisha Crasto has been shifted to the development group.
Since squash has been included in the LA2028 Olympics, five players including Anahat Singh, Tanvi Khanna, Velavan Senthilkumar, Abhay Singh and Ramit Tandon are part of the development group. Interestingly, Dhinidhi Desinghu is the only swimmer in the development group. Srihari Natarj was part of the Core programme earlier. There are 52 para-athletes in the Core group. Earlier there were 59.
Though the Wrestling Federation of India is not recognised by the sports ministry, despite its affiliation with the United World Wrestling (UWW), there are six grapplers in the Core group. Paris Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat, Antim Panghal, Reetika Hooda, Nisha Dahiya, Deepak Punia and Chirag are in Core, while there are 26 players in development — the highest in any sport.
As reported by this daily, another interesting move by the TOPS has been the six-monthly evaluation of athletes. There are a few parameters they have identified that include both physical and mental/psychological aspects besides their projected results. However, the weeding out will be done yearly. To monitor hiring of coaches by respective athletes, the TOPS has initiated a move to have more accountability among all stakeholders — the athlete, SAI and the National Sports Federations (NSFs).
Core group: Archery: Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhagat, Dhiraj Bommadevara; Athletics: Avinash Sable, Neeraj Chopra, M Sreeshankar; Badminton: PV SIndhu, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty; Boxing: Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain; Shooting: Manu Bhaker, Palak, Esha Singh, Sarbjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita, Nancy, Elavanil Valarivan, Rudrankksh B Patil, Arjun Babuta, Divyansh Singh Pawar, Sift Kaur Samra, Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Seoran, Aishwary Pratap Singh, Maheshwari Chauhan, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka; Table Tennis: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula; Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu; Wrestling: Antim Panghal, Nisha Dahiya, Reetika Hooda, Aman Sehrawat, Chirag and Deepak Punia.
Development group: Archery (11), athletics (25), badminton (14), boxing (10), shooting (19), squash (5), rowing (3), swimming (1), Table Tennis (7), wrestling (26).
