New Delhi: The World Championship-bound Indian track-and-field athletes, including defending javelin throw gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra, will mostly train in Europe and the USA before the September showpiece after the sports ministry’s Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) approved lengthy exposure trips to enhance their medal prospects. At the 157th meeting of the MOC, athletics was the biggest beneficiary as training and competition proposals amounting to Rs 86 lakh were approved. A lion’s share of the amount was set aside for those who have qualified for the Tokyo event from September 13 to 21. Chopra, who is the strongest Indian medal hope and the only one with two world championship medals to his credit, will be training in Prague and Nymburk in the Czech Republic for 57 days. He will be heading out with his physio Ishan Marwah tonight and be based in the European country till September 5 at a total cost of Rs 19 lakh. Before his gold in 2023, the 27-year-old had won a silver in the 2022 edition of the big event, making him the first Indian after Anju Bobby George (long jump bronze in 2003) to finish on the podium of the marquee competition. Steeplechasers Avinash Sable, and Parul Chaudhary and long-distance runner Gulveer Singh will be training at Colorado Springs, Los Angeles from July 15 to September 3. The government has approved Rs 41.29 lakh for the trio’s training expenses. All three of them are national record-holders and performed well during the Asian Championships in May. Sable expectedly won gold, while Chaudhary brought home silver medals in women’s steeplechase and 5000m races. Gulveer won gold medals in men’s 10,000m as well as 5,000m events, clocking a championship record in the latter race.Other proposals also approved The MOC also sanctioned Rs 10.32 lakh for middle distance runner Ajay Kumar Saroj to train with the elite athletes at the same venue. He won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. Saroj was hampered by an ankle injury for most of last year. Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will be heading for competitions in Europe and Central Asia (Portugal, Spain and Kazakhstan) from July 19 till August 14 for which the government has approved Rs 5.58 lakh. Sreeshankar was laid low by a knee injury last year which prevented him from competing in the Paris Olympics despite qualifying for the Games. Women’s long jump prospects Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh, who won a bronze medal in the Asian Championships, will also be in Europe for events in London, Berlin and Lausanne at a cost of Rs 9.21 lakh.Para-shuttlers to compete in CardiffFrom July 22 to 26, 11 para-shuttlers would be competing at the British and Irish Para-Badminton Championship in Cardiff, which would be crucial for gathering ranking points needed to qualify for the World Para-Badminton Championships early next year. Proven performers like Nitish Kumar, Manoj Sarkar and Krishna Nagar will be part of the 11-strong squad which will be accompanied by six support staff. The MOC has approved a budget of Rs 44.26 lakh for the group. The meeting on Thursday, which was conducted online, was attended by Sports Secretary and Director General, Sports Authority of India (SAI) Hari Ranjan Rao, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO N S Johal, Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) head Col. Rakesh Yadav, and other senior members such as national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, Athletics Federation of India spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla, and Indian Olympic Association vice president Gagan Narang among others.
