The Sports Ministry on Thursday granted financial assistance to woman table tennis player Manika Batra and several other athletes to boost their preparations for future competitions. The financial assistance was provided under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Athletes Get Financial Assistance
Among the athletes who got the assistance, Tokyo Paralympics silver medalist Nishad Kumar was provided with an amount of Rs 18.9 Lakhs for his training at Olympic Training Centre in the United States. Nishad holds an Asain record of 2.6 meters in the T-47 men’s high jump. Currently, he is under his 73-day training camp which will end on August 12, 2022. Post this, he will be trained under Jeremy Fischer, who is also the director of the Olympic Training Centre.
Table tennis player Sreeja Akula has also been provided with extended support for her training. Sreeja is supported for her participation in WTT Feeder Otocec, to be held in Slovenia. Paddler Manika Batra is provided with financial support to have her coach Chris Pfeiffer for the WTT Contender Zagreb which is to be held from June 13 till June 19, 2022.
Tokyo Olympics 3000m steeplechase runner Avinash Sable has also got assistance. He will be participating in the Diamond League in Morocco on June 5, 2022. Avinash is also a part of the TOPS core team, provided with an amount of 3.52 Lakhs altogether.
Javelin thrower and Tokyo Olympian Annu Rani has also been assisted with an amount of Rs 4.15 Lakhs. Swimmer Aneesh Gowda is also getting assistance for Singapore Swimming National Championship. Another one to get financial assistance is fencer Karan Singh. He will be participating in Asian Fencing Championship in Seoul and in Senior World Fencing Championship in Cairo.
