Sports Authority of India (SAI) has updated its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) list ahead of 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo. The flagship program of Ministry Of Youth Affairs and Sports aims to assist the Indian athletes in their preparation for the Olympics events.
Sports Authority of India released the new list on Wednesday which has the name of six-time world boxing champion Mary Kom along with ten other boxers. The new names has been added after scrutinising the global performances of the players in various sports events along with the feedback from the NSF body, high-performance managers, and coaches.
Along with the other names, Mission Olympic Cell of SAI has also extended the support to Yashaswini Singh Deshwal, Women’s 10m Air Pistol Shooter and Badminton star Sai Praneeth. Posting the same on their official social media handle SAI extended its support to the players.
12 #athletes have been included in the #TOPScheme for #Tokyo2020 ✅
🥊#Boxing:@MangteC , @Boxerpanghal,Neeraj,Sonia, @LovlinaBorgoha1,@officialvkyadav, @shivathapa,#ManishKaushik, @nikhat_zareen,#KavinderBisht
🔫#Shooting:#YashaswiniDeswal
🏸#Badminton:@saiprneeth92#TOPSAthlete pic.twitter.com/FJMKZu9zf6— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) September 11, 2019
Well, it’s the year of women and even the sports events are dominated by the breakthrough performances of female players. According to a recent report, Mary Kom’s name has been recommended for the prestigious Padma Vibhushan award. The Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee would be the first female athlete to receive such honour. Along with her name, golden girl PV Sindhu’s name has been up for Padma Bhushan. The SAI has sent out nine recommendations for the Padma awards and all nine hail from women’s category.
Sports ministry sends 9 names for Padmas — all women
Six-time world champion boxer @MangteC has been recommended for the prestigious Padma Vibhushan awardhttps://t.co/BTrp86Sz3Y via @toisports pic.twitter.com/tSmZMAp2Pi
— Times of India (@timesofindia) September 12, 2019
For Indian Sports, which is always seen as a male-dominated area, this is a huge step in honouring and encouraging the female athletes.
You go girls!
