The financial assistance has been granted to 52 sportspersons, four coaches and six support staffs under the Operation London Excellence 2012, which also covers athletes who are not part of the Games.
The aid sanctioned is towards extensive training abroad, engagement of personal coaches both foreign and Indian, competitions exposures abroad, scientific back-up in terms of sports psychologists, physiotherapists, masseurs etc.
Out of the total amount of Rs 1018.90 lakh, shooters have got the maximum chunk -- about Rs 455 lakh, with Abhinav Bindra topping the list, having been sanctioned Rs 131.58 lakh so far for 155 days of training under Dr Uwe Riesterer at ISC, Germany during September 2011 to July 2012.
While Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu have so far received Rs 110.20 lakh and Rs 113.33 lakh respectively from the government for 217 days of training under Serafino Carlini from July 2011 to July 2012.
Other shooters like Shagun Chowdary (Rs 37.03 lakh), Sanjeev Rajput (Rs 8.54 lakh), Joydeep Karmarkar (Rs 22.32 lakh), Heena Sidhu (Rs 7.36 lakh) have also got substantial sum for their preparation for the London Games.
Mansher Singh, who has not qualified for the Olympics, has also got Rs 14.64 lakh for 110 days training under Carlini from September 2011 to July 2012.
Nine Indian athletes have been sanctioned Rs 268.89 lakh, out of which shot putter Om Prakash Karhana received Rs 58.73 lakh for training at DOBO SE Szombathely in Hungary from June 2011 to July 2012, while discus thrower Krishna Poonia got Rs 58.01 lakh. MORE
