Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) during their 134th meeting approved athletes Jyothi Yarraji and Shaili Singh’s proposals for multiple competitions as the two aim to Qualify for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.

The Indian track and field athletes have sent in their request for financial assistance towards various competitions across Europe for the coming month, where they will try to either breach the qualification mark or gather crucial ranking points for the Olympics.
While Jyothi has proposed to compete in six international events in Europe, Shaili aims to compete in 4 events in the month of May and June.

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MOC under their Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) funding will cover their airfare, visa costs, accommodation charges, local transport costs, medical insurance, physio charges, massage costs and OPA among other expenditures.

MOC also approved proposals of Badminton players Kiran George, Ayush Shetty and Rakshitha Sree. Kiran has proposed to participate in the Malaysia Masters (BWF 500) while Ayush has requested financial assistance to participate in a Thailand Open along with Malaysia Masters. Meanwhile, Rakshitha will head to Denmark to participate in State Denmark Challenge followed by the Slovenia Open in Ljubljana.

TOPS will fund their airfare, accommodation costs, Insurance coverage and Visa costs among other expenditures.

MOC also approved proposals of Table Tennis players Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath, both Manav and Archana plan to compete in WTT Contender Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and WTT Contender Mendoza, Argentina with TOPS covering their Airfare, Hospitality package cost and Visa fees.
Besides foreign competitions, MOC also approved the proposal of Skeet shooter Anantjeet Singh Naruka’s plan to train in Italy with personal coach Ennio Falco before the World Cup, Baku and World Cup, Lonato. The total training period for Anantjeet will be 20 days under coach Ennio Falco with TOPS covering his coaching fees, boarding/lodging cost, local transportation cost and expenditure for Ammunition and Clay targets.
During the meeting, MOC also inducted Indian Badminton player Ashwani Ponnappa, Indian shooter Maheshwari Chauhan and rower Balraj Panwar to the TOPS Core group, with Ashwani’s doubles partner Tanisha Crasto also being promoted from Development to Core group for Paris Olympics.