1. Home
  2. Dravid, Bindra and Gopichand to select Olympic medal hopes

Dravid, Bindra and Gopichand to select Olympic medal hopes

July 26, 2014

Rahul DravidNew Delhi, Jul 26: With an aim to increase India's medal tally in 2016 and 2020 Olympics, the sports ministry has decided to start a "Target Mission Olympic Podium Scheme" and an elite athletes identification committee, which will include sporting greats Rahul Dravid and Abhinav Bindra among others.

The scheme will be promoted by National Sports Development fund and will support India's best medal prospects for Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics and other major sporting events up to 2020 games.

Sports ministry sources said that it has also been decided to constitute a TOP scheme elite athletes identification committee under BJP MP and executive member of IOA Anurag Thakur.

Apart from former cricket captain Dravid and Olympics gold medal winning shooter Bindra, the eight-member committee also consists of national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, Director General of SAI ( Sports Authority of India), Joint Secretary sports, MYAS, CEO of Mittal Champions Trust Manisha Malhotra and Amrit Mathur as convener.

The committee will evaluate and select around 75 to 100 talented potential medal prospects with 25-30 on watch list for 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

The focused disciplines will be athletics, archery, badminton, boxing, wrestling and shooting which have been India's best medal hopes so far.

India has won only 26 medals in its Olympic history, which include nine gold, six silver and 11 bronze. Out of nine gold, eight have been won by the Indian hockey team in 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1980. The only individual gold medal is won by Bindra, who is the member of Sports Ministry's committee.

The time frame for the task will be two months. Applications will be invited from NSFs and individuals. Back up research will also be conducted on shortlisted applications.

Thakur said that their target is to ensure 20 medals in 2020 Olympics.

"It is an honour for me to head such a prestigious committee having illustrious names like Dravid, Bindra and Gopichand. Our mandate is to select about 75-100 sportspersons under TOP scheme. We will ensure that promising sportspersons across various sports are identified and trained," Thakur said.

"Our aim is to take the medal tally in double digits in Rio 2016 Olympics and India should win 20 medals in 2020 Tokyo Olympics," said Thakur, who is also the joint secretary of the BCCI.

There will be provisions for annual/bi annual review of selected athletes and fresh induction of outstanding talents as well as weeding out out of form players.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 8,2020

New Delhi, May 8: India skipper Virat Kohli believes cricket in empty stadiums is a real possibility in post COVID-19 world and though it is unlikely to have a bearing on the intensity of players, he feels the magic would certainly go missing.

Cricket Boards across the globe are exploring the option of resuming the sport in empty stadiums. There is speculation that fans could be kept away from stadiums in a bid to salvage the T20 World Cup in Australia, which is currently under threat due to the global health crisis.

"It's quite a possible situation, it might happen, I honestly don't know how everyone is going to take that because we all are used to playing in front of so many passionate fans," Kohli said in Star Sports' show 'Cricket Connected'.

"I know it will be played at a very good intensity but that feeling of the crowd connecting with the players and the tension of the game where everyone goes through it in the stadium, those emotions are very difficult to recreate," he added.

Kohli said the many moments which are created because of the passion brought in by fans, would be missing.

"Things will still go on, but I doubt that one will feel that magic happening inside because of the atmosphere that was created.

"We will play sports how it is supposed to be played, but those magical moments will be difficult to come by," he said.

Cricketers such as Ben Stokes, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Pat Cummins have backed the idea of playing behind closed doors.

However, legendary Australian Allan Border has said it would defy belief to host a World Cup without spectators.

Another Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and some other cricketers have also expressed similar sentiments.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.