India’s in-form shooters, boxers await inclusion in Olympic scheme

young new delhi: The 2025 flavour has amount to an terminate but some of the top performances of Indian athletes have surprisingly gone unnoticed by the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) that runs the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) — the union government programme that provides financial and holistic support to athletes for achieving their goal of Olympics success.

The updated list shared with HT following the MOC meeting on December 10 has some glaring omissions. The discipline affected most is shooting that gave India three medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The TOPS core group has been updated, going from 49 athletes in eight Olympic disciplines (on April 30) to 57. The development group has grown from 112 to 130 athletes, but both lists are yet to include pistol shooters Suruchi Phogat and Samrat Rana — the two biggest talents to emerge this season.

Phogat, 19, won three individual World Cup titles (10m air pistol) and a World Cup Final gold and rose to world No.1 in September. She won her first World Cup medal in April. Rana became the first Indian to win the 10m air pistol at the ISSF World Championships in Cairo in Nov besides bagging the mixed team silver in the event with Esha Singh. Phogat and Rana’s names do not figure in the TOPS Development Group list of 130 athletes either.

The impressive results in the World Boxing Championships in September too is yet to reflect in the lists. The women’s 48kg world champion Minakshi Hooda is not part of TOPS programme, while 57kg world champion Jaismine Lamboria’s three international titles too don’t seem to have impressed MOC. There doesn’t seem any other explanation for the Paris Olympian not being upgraded from the development group to the core group.

A TOPS athlete gets a monthly stipend of ₹50,000 that she/he can spend on training and diet. Besides that, they can ask for personal coaches, foreign exposure tours and equipment. The Asian Games are scheduled in Japan in September and it is crucial preparatory time for the top athletes.

At the start of the season in April, the TOPS Core group had 18 shooters and 19 other shooters in the Development Group. The list remains unchanged in December despite Indian shooters recording their best-ever showing at the World Championships (rifle/pistol), winning seven medals in Olympic disciplines. Worlds silver medallist Anish Bhanwala (25m rapid fire) and worlds bronze medallist Varun Tomar continue to be part of the Development Group. Both competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics and have been the most consistent shooters in the last few seasons. Zoravar Singh Sandhu, who won a World Championships medal in trap, an Olympic discipline, too doesn’t get a look in.

In wrestling, there are eight names in the core group including Paris Olympian Reetika Hooda, who tested dope positive in July and is currently under provisional suspension.

In boxing, the TOPS Core group features only Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain and has not changed since April. The updated Core Group has additions in archery (Rishabh Yadav), athletics (Sarvesh Kushare, Sachin Yadav), table tennis (Manush Shah, Manav Thakkar, Diya Chitale) and wrestling (Manisha and Sujit Kalkal). The TOPS Division, under Col. Nachattar Singh Johal, has experts from different disciplines and has held at least 10 meetings since April.

There was no official comment from MOC. However, an MOC official in the know told HT: “Athletes are included/updated in TOPS programme based on their performances over a six-month period and players meeting the benchmarks. All such cases of athletes will be discussed in the next MOC meeting on Jan 14.”

An NRAI official said they do not recommend names to TOPS, and the MOC does the vetting by assessing the performances of athletes. It seeks suggestions from the national federation if needed. “MOC has its mechanism of incorporating or deleting names. The MOC sub committees discuss names based on consistent performances and take a call. Whenever we are asked we provide our inputs,” said a shooting federation (NRAI) official, who said Suruchi and Samrat should have been added in TOPS.

“We have got to know that their names are yet to be added and we will discuss it with the MOC,” the official added.

Some of the shooters still in TOPS have been out of the Indian team for a long time while others have not been included.

Pistol shooter Shiva Narwal, for example, last competed for India in 2023 but is still in TOPS. In women’s air rifle, Nancy (one name) has been out of the Indian team for more than a year, but receives assistance under the scheme.

Some of the shooters who are not in the list said they have been actively pursuing TOPS inclusion through the year without success. “What is the point of a programme when we can’t get the help when it is needed? Those who are not performing are getting the benefits of TOPS,” said the parent of a shooter, who did not wish to be identified.

---

---