P V Sindhu, Sakshi Malik received only 1.66% of total amount spent on Rio-bound athletes: Report

September 12, 2016

New Delhi, Sep 12: Rio Olympics medal winners P V Sindhu and Sakshi Malikreceived only 1.66 per cent, for their preparation for the international sporting event, of the Rs 36.85 crore spent by the government on the 117 Olympians who took part under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) launched last year, reported the Indian Express on Monday.

collageUnder TOPS, the government spent Rs 61.13 lakh on Sindhu and Malik, the report added.

Where did most of the funds go?

Citing data compiled on August 22, the national daily said that in some cases, a significant chunk of the funds was spent on athletes who turned out to be prominent under-performers. The report gave the example of the women’s relay squad, on which Rs 2.94 crore were spent, which finished seventh in their heats and did not qualify for the semi-finals.

Shooting, the country's most successful Olympic discipline in the last three games, received nearly half of the overall amount, the report said, putting the figure at Rs 15.39 crore.

The government spent that amount on the 12 shooters who went to Rio, according to the report, and 10 of them got more than Rs 1 crore each. India's medal-prospect in the discipline, Abhinav Bindra, received the highest amount among individual athletes at Rs 2.37 crore.

The report added that the second highest expenditure, according to the data, was incurred on athletics, with Rs 7.80 crore being spent on 30 out of the 36 athletes who qualified.

According to the report, of the total amount under TOPS, Rs 6.36 crore was spent on disciplines – badminton (Rs 3.84 crore) and wrestling (Rs 2.52 crore) – that did net India medals. The report added that Rs 45.27 lakh went to badminton silver medal-winner Sindhu and Rs 15.86 lakh to wrestling bronze medal-winner Sakshi.

However, in terms of return on investment, TOPS mostly missed out, with Rs 30.49 crore (out of the total of Rs 36.85 crore) being spent on disciplines which did not net India any medals, the report said. The report cited the example of discus thrower Vikas Gowda. Gowda, who the sportsministry saw as a medal-prospect, received Rs 1.02 crore but he finished 28th in his event.

What is TOPS?

Launched in March 2015, TOPS is a top-up funding scheme which is meant to fulfil the direct needs of Olympic athletes, including amount spent on personal coaches and support staff, travel and accommodation expenses during competitions and training, and equipment expenses.

According to the report, TOPS is over and above the central budget, which stands at Rs 750 crore for the period beginning from the start of 2012 to December 31, 2015, according to the previoussports minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Did we spend enough?

India's expenditure on this account appears to fall short when compared to many other participating nations.

According to the report, in comparison to Great Britain, which spent $350 million on all its Rio-bound athletes, and Australia, which spent $332 million in the period between the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, India spent approximately $5.5 million under TOPS in the run-up to the Olympics.

Speaking to the national daily, Sports Minister Vijay Goel said: “If we want to broad-base our sport, we need more budget to provide infrastructure, training and coaches for our athletes. So definitely, we need a bigger budget.”

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 1: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are aiming to set up their preparatory camp for the 13th edition of the tournament from early August.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, CSK players have been asked to report to Chennai first, following which they will leave for Dubai via a charter flight only after approval from the Indian government.

The IPL Governing Council will meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule and other key arrangements for the tournament. Also, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) around securing eight teams for 51 days across three venues will be formally established in that meeting.

CSK, who has the oldest squad in the IPL, are looking for a month's preparation before ahead of the tournament.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the side was the first team to start their training camp in March. Senior players like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu had begun training their training in December 2019.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Indian pacer S Sreesanth has slammed England all-rounder Ben Stokes for questioning MS Dhoni's intent during a World Cup match, saying that the former captain will end Stokes' career.

Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' had questioned Dhoni's intent during India's 31-run defeat at the hands of England in the premier tournament last year.

"For Ben Stokes, I will only say that you should pray that Dhoni does not play against you in the future. Dhoni does not forget things easily," Sreesanth said during a Live session on Helo.

"I wish Stokes all the best for whenever he faces Dhoni again, be it IPL or an England vs India match. You must be earning in millions now, Dhoni Bhai will end your career. Dhoni will strike the ball everywhere and he (Stokes) can never dismiss Dhoni. Before he (Stokes) opens his mouth, he should make sure to wear a helmet," he added.

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding had also come out in support of Dhoni and said that the wicket-keeper batsman wanted to win the match against England.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding had said on his official YouTube channel.

"...It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 percent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," he had added.

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News Network
May 25,2020

Karachi, May 25: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world-class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.

"If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

"Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

"He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn't want to be in the team. He just doesn't want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith," he said.

"He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

"Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: "Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches ... I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," the former skipper said.

"Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well."

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

"I don't know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take," he said.

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