Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Affairs plans to reconstitute the TOP Identification Committee with senior sportspersons of repute
Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme has been reviewed recently by the Department of Sports to make it more focused and effective. This has been done on the basis of inputs received from federations, sports persons and coaches. The scheme will cover 12 disciplines, namely - archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, wrestling, sailing, gymnastics, swimming, lawn tennis, para athletics and para swimming. To support the sports persons in filling applications and doing other paperwork, Programme Officers of Sports Authority of India have been designated as Mentors of sports persons of the said disciplines, who will carry out paperwork for sportspersons involved as this is required to be done as per CAG guidelines for utilization of public funds. Currently 84 athletes have joined the TOP Scheme and 6 more athletes have conveyed their willingness to join the scheme. Rs.6.22 crore has been sanctioned under the scheme and further approximately similar amount has been allocated. Some of the prominent athletes who have received assistance under the TOP Scheme are - Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), Saina Nehwal (Badminton), Abhinav Bindra (Shooting), Vikas Gowda (Athletics), Inderjit Singh (Athletics), Deepika Kumari (Archery), Mary Kom (Boxing), Sarita Devi (Boxing), Heena Siddhu (Shooting), Manavjit Sandhu (Shooting), Yogeshwar Dutt (Wrestling) , H.N. Girisha (Para sports), Sharad Kumar (Para sports) and Deepa Malik (Para sports). The scheme aims to provide world class training facilities and preparation for potential medal winners for the forthcoming Rio Olympics 2016.
In view of his pre-occupation with BCCI, Shri Anurag Thakur has informed that it will not be possible for him to devote time to TOP. Therefore, the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports Affairs is planning to reconstitute the TOP Identification Committee with senior sports persons of repute.
