Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) has sanctioned multiple proposals aimed at supporting athletes and Para-athletes in their preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

At its meeting, MOC approved a request from Paralympic Table Tennis medallist Bhavina Patel for financial support to participate in the ITTF Para Table Tennis Asia Training Camp 2024, scheduled in Thailand from July 16 to 20. This includes provisions for her coach and escort.

Further approvals have been granted to Para-shooters Manish Narwal, Rudranksh Khandelwal, Rubina Francis, and Sriharsha R Devareddy for specialized sports shooting equipment by MOC. Specifically, Sriharsha will receive an Air Rifle, Rubina a Morini Pistol, and support will be provided for the procurement of two Javelins (Valhalla 800g Medium NXB and Diana Carbon 600g) for Para-athlete Sandeep Choudhary.

MOC also provided support for financial aid towards procurement of archery equipment for Archers Ankita Bhakat, Deepika Kumari, and Para-archers Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar.

Further, MOC has sanctioned support for Judoka Tulika Maan and her coach to train at the Valencia Judo High Performance Centre in Spain until July 25.

Table Tennis player Manush Shah’s request for financial assistance to train under Korean Coach Taejun Kim in Gyeonggi Do, South Korea, and for the purchase of physical fitness equipment has been approved as well.

MOC also approved the inclusion of athletes Suraj Panwar, Vikash Singh and Ankita Dhyani and swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu in TOPS Core group while athletes Jeswin Aldrin, Praveen Chithravel, Akashdeep Singh and Paramjeet Singh were promoted from TOPS Development to Core Group.

****

Pragya Paliwal Gaur/ Himanshu Pathak