India adds 10 more athletes under TOPS support scheme

The Indian Ministry primarily supports elite athletes under the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) of each National Sports Federation.  Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) provides customised support to athletes in areas not covered under the ACTC and addresses unanticipated needs of the athletes as they prepare to excel in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Ace rider Fouaad Mirza, golfers Anirban Lahiri, Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar and Alpine Skier Mohammed Arif Khan are among the 10 athletes added by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) to the list of athletes who would be provided support under TOPS. While these five athletes have been included in the Core group, golfers Shubhankar Sharma and Tvesa Malik and Judokas Yash Ghangas, Unnati Sharma and Linthoi Chanambam have been added to the Development group. These additions take the number of athletes under TOPS to 301, including 107 in the Core group.
 Among this players are the 23-year-old Aditi Ashok, hailing from Bengaluru, wrested the nation’s attention in Tokyo 2020 after being in medal reckoning throughout the competition and the 21-year-old left-hander Diksha Dagar, who is from Jhajjar in Haryana and is a silver medalist in the 2017 Summer Deaflympics, finished 50th in the Olympic Games last year.