Seven more Telangana athletes included in TOPS

Hyderabad: Seven more Telangana athletes – five from badminton and two from boxing – have been included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in the list announced by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports at a meeting of the Mission Olympic Cell (MCO) on Thursday. The talented shuttlers Pranav Rao, P Vishnuvardhan, chief national […]

Hyderabad: Seven more Telangana athletes – five from badminton and two from boxing – have been included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in the list announced by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports at a meeting of the Mission Olympic Cell (MCO) on Thursday.

The talented shuttlers Pranav Rao, P Vishnuvardhan, chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand’s daughter Gayatri Pullela, Samiya Imad were included in the development group while Indian doubles badminton player N Sikki Reddy has been named in the Core Group along with her partner Ashwini Ponnappa.

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The core group of badminton consists of all top players including Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal.

Boxers from Nizamabad Nikhat Zareen and Mohammed Hussamuddin were also named in the boxing developmental group. The MOC also picked 50 athletes in the Core Group and 143 in the Development Group across eight disciplines in the second list. The MOC has thus increased the count of total sportspersons in the list to 291, including 102 in the Core Group.

Athletes from as many as 13 Olympic disciplines and six Paralympic disciplines have been identified so far for support in their preparation for the 2024 Games.

The MOC accepted a recommendation by a sub-committee that a review of the swimming list is undertaken after the World Championships in June next year and of the archery list after the National Ranking tournament next month. Some other sports like equestrian, golf, gymnastics, judo, and tennis will be taken up later.

State athletes’ list: Badminton: Pranav Rao, P Vishnuvardhan, Pullela Gayatri, Samiya Imad and Sikki Reddy; Boxing: Nikhat Zareen, Mohammed Husamuddin.

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