TOPS shake-up: Neeraj Chopra retained but big names axed

Some of India's biggest sportspersons found their names on the chopping block as tennis, swimming, and golf went unrepresented while boxing and athletics had drastically reduced presence in the sports ministry's Target Olympic Podium Scheme's (TOPS) core group that was pruned to 94 from 179 after a performance review recently.

Of the 94 who have been picked, a mere 42 are able-bodied athletes, which is a reduction of 78 from the previous list.

52 para-athletes, including the top performers of the Paris Paralympics, are in the core group, a reflection of their growing stature and rising performance internationally, which included 29 medals (seven gold) in the French capital last August.

The pruned list, however, is a "dynamic one" and names will continue to be added or dropped based on performance in the qualification cycle of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

"It's a truthful, transparent and realistic reflection of potential seen as on date based on demonstrated performances," TOPS CEO N S Johal told PTI.

The list also aligns with sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya and sports secretary Sujata Chaturvedi's push for a more performance-oriented policy with regards to support for athletes.

For inclusion in the fresh group, the athletes had to be either Paris medallists, or gone deep in the Games draw or be in the top 16 of the world rankings.

From having 30 names in the previous list, athletics now has just three figures in the updated group and none of them happens to be a woman.

Javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and long jumper M Sreeshankar are the track and field figures in the group.

Among the prominent ones to be dropped are Asiad gold-winning shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, national record holding javelin thrower Annu Rani, and two-time Asian Games gold-winning sprinter Muhammed Anas Yahiya.

TOPS, which was introduced in 2014 to ensure targetted support to Olympic hopefuls, ensures foreign training, international competitions, equipment and coaching besides a monthly stipend of Rs 50,000 for athletes short-listed by the

Mission Olympic Cell of the sports ministry.

Recently, the ministry also added a US$ 25 allowance to the monthly stipend every time an athlete travels abroad for training or competition.

Boxing's representation has also gone down significantly from eight to a mere two and neither of them happens to be a male pugilist. Only Tokyo Olympics bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain and world champion Nikhat Zareen have made the cut.

India's first and only world silver-medallist in men's boxing Amit Panghal, multiple-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa, and Paris Olympics quarterfinalist Nishant Dev are among those who have been removed from the list.

While Panghal and Thapa's non-inclusion can be attributed to underwhelming performances on the global stage for a while, Dev has been dropped on account of him turning professional while shifting base to the USA for now.

K Srikanth and doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa are the most established badminton players among the ones left out of the redrawn list, which expectedly retains P V Sindhu, H S Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and the doubles team of Satwiksairaj Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty.

Shooting, which has long been considered India's best medal bet in every multi-national event including the Olympics, continues to have a high representation. But the overall number is down from 25 to 17.

World Championships medal-winning duo of Divyansh Singh Panwar (rifle) and Anish Bhanwala (pistol) are among those who have been omitted.

India's top singles player Sumit Nagal and veteran doubles pro Rohan Bopanna did not find a place as the ministry wiped out tennis from the fresh list along with golf and swimming.

From the table tennis group too, there has been a drastic cut with only Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula finding a spot. Veteran A Sharath Kamal, who played in his last olympics in Paris, is no longer there and neither is G Sathiyan, whose form has faded over time.

"As of now, there is only one name in swimming that looks promising for the future and she is in the TOPs developmental group," an MOC source said referring to 14-year-old National Games champion Dhinidhi Desinghu.

Tokyo Olympics silver-winning Ravi Dahiya found his name omitted thanks to an injury-forced sabbatical. Also missing was the duo of Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, both of whom are now active politicians with the Congress party, the former being an MLA in Haryana.