Rs. 1018.90 lakh for elite Indian athletes(was it worth it?)
The Sports Ministry has released a financial
assistance of Rs 1018.90 lakh as on July 23, 2012 from its National Sports
Development Fund for imparting customised training to elite athletes, who are
medal prospects in the London Olympics and other major international events.
The financial assistance has been granted to
52 sportspersons, four coaches and six support staff under the Operation London
Excellence 2012, which also covers athletes who are not a part of the Games.
The aid sanctioned is towards extensive
training abroad, engagement of personal coaches both foreign and Indian,
competitions exposures abroad, scientific back-up in terms of sports
psychologists, physiotherapists, masseurs etc.
Out of the total amount of Rs 1018.90 lakh,
shooters have got the maximum chunk - about Rs 455 lakh, with Abhinav Bindra
topping the list, having been sanctioned Rs 131.58 lakh so far for 155 days of
training under Dr Uwe Riesterer at ISC, Germany during September 2011 to July
2012.
While Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu
have so far received Rs 110.20 lakh and Rs 113.33 lakh respectively from the
government for 217 days of training under Serafino Carlini from July 2011 to
July 2012.
Other shooters like Shagun Chowdary (Rs 37.03
lakh), Sanjeev Rajput (Rs 8.54 lakh), Joydeep Karmarkar (Rs 22.32 lakh), Heena
Sidhu (Rs 7.36 lakh) have also got substantial sum for their preparation for the
London Games.
Mansher Singh, who has not qualified for the
Olympics, has also got Rs 14.64 lakh for 110 days training under Carlini from
September 2011 to July 2012.
Nine Indian athletes have been sanctioned Rs
268.89 lakh, out of which shot putter Om Prakash Karhana received Rs 58.73 lakh
for training at DOBO SE Szombathely in Hungary from June 2011 to July 2012,
while discus thrower Krishna Poonia received Rs 58.01 lakh.
She trained at Mac Wilkins Productions,
Concordia University Throw Center (USA) from July to October 2011 and then from
April to June 2012. In between she trained at IAAF High Performance Training
Centre Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa during January to March 2012. Before
the Olympics, she trained under Mac Wilkins in London in July.
Besides shooters and athletes, boxers (Rs
23.84 lakh), tennis players (Rs 169.46 lakh) and gymnasts (Rs 89.91 lakh) also
got huge sums for training.
In addition, two teams of four male and five
female gymnasts were sponsored by (NSDF) for training, while participation of
Indian boxing team in three competitions was also financed under the same
scheme.
Training expenses of boxer MC Mary Kom will
also be borne by NSDF.
- Umesh Shanmugham
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