Govt Clears Foreign Training Camps For Vinesh Phogat, Arjun Cheema; Competitions For Lovlina, Manika Batra

The Mission Olympic Cell: The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has approved multiple proposals from many sportspersons who are scheduled to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The sportspersons whose proposals have been approved include wrestler Vinesh Phogat, pistol shooter Arjun Cheema, paddler Manika Batra, and boxer Lovlina Borgohain.

Vinesh has sought financial assistance for a competition and training camp in Madrid, Spain followed by a training camp in Boulogne sur-Mer, France. She is set to compete in the Grand Prix, in Spain, in July before spending a week in training there before heading to Boulogne sur-Mer, France to train for 20 days ahead of the Olympic Games.

The MOC also approved overseas training camps for Indian pistol shooter Arjun Cheema, who sought assistance for 11-day training in Austria.

The Paris Paralympics-bound Javelin throwers Ajeet Singh and Sandeep Choudhary will respectively train in the Leichtathletik Gemeinschaft Offenburg Centre and LAZ Zweibrucken E.V Centre in Germany. Ajeet will train for 45 days under German coach Werner Daniel while Sandeep will train for 41 days under coach Uwe Hohn before the Paralympic Games. Para-Club and Discus Thrower Pranav Soorma’s request for assistance under the Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) to compete in the Para Athletics Championship in Krusevac, Serbia, and train for 10 days at the same location also secured the MOC’s nod.

The MOC approved assistance to triple jumper Eldhose Paul to compete in the Meeting Nikaia in France, boxer Lovlina Borgohain to compete in the Grand Prix-Czech Republic International Tournament, and table tennis players Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra to compete in multiple international tournaments.

Manika Batra’s proposal for assistance towards the purchase of a DHS Table to train in India and Para–Athlete Bhagyashree Jadhav’s proposal for assistance towards procurement of wheelchair and shot-put equipment were sanctioned.

MOC approved wrestler Antim Panghal’s request for assistance towards the boarding and lodging of her coach during the UWW 2nd Ranking Series and the training camp at Olympic Training Centre, Tata, Hungary, and badminton players Rakshitha Sree and Anmol Kharab’s request for assistance to compete in the Kaohsiung Masters (BWF super 100) event.

The meeting also approved the promotion of five TOPS Athletes to the Core Group from the Development Group. These are boxers Nishant Dev, Jaismine Lamboria, and Preeti Pawar as well as table Tennis players Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath.