All that glitters is gold: Athletics biggest gainer in govt funding for Paris Olympics preparations

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) One Olympic medal is all it takes to raise the profile of a sport and if the colour happens to be gold, it is just icing on the cake.

Ask the practitioners of track-and-field disciplines in India, who were the biggest beneficiaries of government funding in this Olympic cycle after javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s top finish in the Tokyo edition three years ago.

According to official data from the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), which is available with PTI, the government has spent a whopping Rs 96.08 crore for athletics.

It’s the biggest chunk in the close to Rs 470 crore which has been spent on India’s preparation for the Games this time across 16 disciplines. In the previous Olympic cycle, athletics received Rs 5.38 crore from TOPS funds.

A strong 28-member contingent, led by Chopra, will represent Indian athletics at the Paris Games starting July 26 where the country’s overall representation will stand at 118.

The full details of the funding for Tokyo preparations are sketchy but sources say the expenditure this time is substantially higher keeping in mind higher expectations after the seven medals achieved last time.

The country’s shuttlers were the second biggest gainers, receiving Rs 72.02 crore followed by boxing (Rs 60.93 crore) and shooting (Rs 60.42 crore).

India secured a total of five badminton quotas for Paris, which includes two-time medallist PV Sindhu (women’s singles), HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen (men’s singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles) and Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto (women’s doubles).

Hockey, in which the bronze-medallist Indian men’s team will compete to match or better the Tokyo performance, received funding of Rs 41.29 crore in the last three years, while archery got Rs 39.18 crore from the government.

The wrestlers received Rs 37.80 crore funding, while weightlifting got Rs 26.98 crore.

Equestrian received the least financial support — little more than Rs 95 lakh, while tennis got Rs 1.67 crore, followed by golf (Rs 1.74 crore), rowing (Rs 3.89 crore), swimming (Rs 3.9 crore), sailing (Rs 3.78 crore) and judo (Rs 6.3 crore)

The Indian table tennis team, which will be spearheaded by star paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, who will be India’s joint flag-bearer along with Sindhu during the opening ceremony, got a funding of Rs 12.92 crore from the government.

According to the official data, in terms of foreign exposure trips, the country’s shuttlers received the maximum support, 81 trips to be precise.

The shooters got 45 foreign exposure trips, followed by tennis (40), athletics (31), table tennis (28), wrestling (27), archery (24), boxing (23), sailing (22), hockey (18), judo (15), golf (12) and swimming (11).

The funding by the government has been done in three categories — Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) Senior Paris Cycle, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Elaborating on the process, a SAI source told PTI that it kicks in after proposals are received from the athletes and respective national federations.

Besides, an athlete or a sport’s performance is also monitored and analysed over a period of time.

“The athletes who are interested in government support for their preparations for major events send their proposals to SAI, which puts those proposals in front of Mission Olympic Cell and after serious deliberations and debate, they are approved,” the source told PTI.

“It’s not just that, SAI also keeps track of athletes’ performances and the approvals are passed after analysing all these factors.”

During the last three years, 41 national camps were conducted in shooting, which is the highest among all 16 disciplines.

Archery comes a close second with 41 camps, followed by athletics (36), hockey (33), boxing (17), rowing (16), wrestling (15) and badminton (13).

There were no national camps for equestrian as most of the riders train abroad, while only one camp was organised for golf.

“We have been getting the best of facilities provided to us at SAI, Bengaluru, from food to accommodation to gym and other training facilities. We have been based here for a long time. We are also getting plenty of foreign exposure trips,” a Paris-bound hockey player said.

In terms of individual or sport-specific expenditure, the Indian men’s hockey team got the highest of Rs 41.81 crore, which includes 76 national camps and 19 foreign exposure trips.

Chopra is second on the list with Rs 5.72 crore, spent towards assistance for hiring current foreign coach Dr Klaus Bartonietz, assistance towards pre-Olympic camp in Europe, and competition in Europe, USA and South Africa.

Men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwik and Chirag received Rs 5.62 crore for assistance towards appointment and extension of tenure of their coach Mathias Boe, hiring of video analyst and assistance for sparring partners.

Sindhu got Rs 3.13 crore, mainly towards hiring of current foreign coach Agus Dwi Santoso, and training at Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule (LSVS) in Saarbrucken, Germany for 36 days.

Besides she also got assistance towards 17 foreign exposure trips through TOPS for her personal support staff, appointment of former foreign coaches Mohd Hafiz and Park Tae Sang.

Tokyo silver-medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu received Rs 2.74 crore.