Target RIO 2016: 57 Indians qualified so far

The RIO Olympics 2016 are just 9 months away and India hopes to better its tally of 6 medals in 2012. To achieve the goal, the government has launched the TOP Scheme to extend financial assistance to potential medal winners. A total of 106 sportspersons have so far been identified under this scheme. Also, 57 sportspersons have qualified so far for the Rio Olympics.

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The 2016 Rio Olympics are less than 9 months away. India is planning to better its 2012 tally of 6 medals. This would be possible only if India is able to send a contingent of at least 100 athletes. According to information available with the government, 57 Indians have qualified so far for the 2016 Olympics, out of which 32 are from Hockey (Men & Women).

What is the Government doing to improve the medal tally?

The Government has formulated the ‘Target Olympic Podium Scheme’ (TOP Scheme). The funding for this scheme will come from the National Sports Development Fund. The objective of the scheme is to identify and support potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. The selected athletes are being provided financial assistance for their customized training at Institutes having world class facilities and other necessary support.

A total of 106 sportspersons including 9 Para athletes have been identified to be funded under this scheme. Financial assistance is being provided for customized training and other support after scrutiny of the proposals from them.

Out of the 106 sportspersons selected for the TOP scheme, 26 are from Athletics, 10 each from Badminton & Boxing, 19 from Shooting, 16 from Archery and 9 from Wrestling.

So far, 88 sportspersons have applied for assistance and an assistance of Rs.6.22 crore has been sanctioned to them. The total outlay for the scheme is about 43 crore.

Plans for RIO 2016

The Sports Ministry has identified 9 sports disciplines (Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Hockey, Shooting, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling) Rio Olympics 2016. The training of sportspersons in these 9 sports disciplines is on with both Indian & Foreign Coaches.

Discipline	No. of. Indian Coaches	No. of Foreign Coaches
Archery	5	1
Athletics	20	6
Badminton	6	5
Boxing	16	10
Hockey	6	2
Shooting	10	5
Weightlifting	6	–
Wrestling	21	3

Tennis players have their own individual training plans.

How many have qualified so far?

Till date, 25 individual sportspersons and Hockey teams (Men & Women) of 16 members each, have qualified for Rio Olympics 2016, taking the total to 57.

Name of the Discipline	Quota Places Attained Till date	Name and Event
Archery	4	Deepika Kumari	Women’ s Individual and Team
		Laxmi Rani Majhi
		Rimil Biruily
		Mangal Singh Champia	Men Individual
Athletics	12	Gurmeet Singh	Men’s 20 Kms. Walk
		Baljinder Singh
		Chandan Singh
		Sandeep Kumar	Men’s 50 Kms. Walk
		Manish Rawat
		Kushbir Kaur	Women’s 20 Kms. Walk
		Inderjeet Singh	Men’s Shot-put
		Manpreet Kaur	Women’s Shot-put
		Tintu Luka	Women’s 800 Mts
		O.P. Jaisha	Marathon/5000m Steeple Chase
		Sudha Singh	Women’s 5000 M Steeple Chase
		Lalita Babar	Women’s 3000M Steeple Chase
Hockey	16 Men	Hockey team (16 members)
	16 Women
Shooting	8	Mr. Jitu Rai	50M Free Pistol
		Ms. Apurvi Chandela	10M Air Rifle
		Mr. Gagan Narang	50M Rifle Prone
		Mr. Abhinav Bindra	10M Air Rifle
		Mr. Gurpreet Singh	10M Air Pistol
		Mr. P. N. Prakash	50M Free Pistol
		Mr. Chain Singh	50M Rifle 3 Positions
		Mr. Miraj Ahmed Khan	Skeet
Wrestling	1	Narsingh Yadav	74 Kg. Free Style

 

Many more are expected to qualify especially from Boxing, Badminton, Tennis, and Wrestling etc where the qualifiers are pending. Some of those qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics have been strangely left out of the TOP scheme. Athletes Baljinder Singh, Chandan Singh, Jaisha, Sudha Singh, Lalita and Shooter Miraj Ahmed Khan have been left out of the TOP scheme. The government does not give any concrete reason for leaving them out.