Wrestler Ravi included in TOPS, Sakshi dropped

New Delhi (PTI): Young wrestler Ravi Dahiya, who recently won a World championships bronze medal, was on Friday included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) while struggling Sakshi Malik was dropped from the program. The decision was taken by the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell. Ravi won a bronze in the men's 57kg freestyle category in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

The bronze also ensured an Olympic quota for India in next year's Tokyo Games. Sakshi, who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, has been struggling for long and has been dropped from the Scheme. She had crashed out in the opening round of the 62kg women's category in Nur-Sultan.

Weightlifter Ragala Venkat Rahul has also been excluded from the TOPS, which provides a monthly financial assistance of Rs 50,000. The committee has sanctioned the proposal of wrestler Pooja Dhanda to train for a period of one month in her hometown of Hisar under the supervision of Romanian coach Fanel Carp.

The committee sanctioned weight-lifter Mirabai Chanu's proposal for financial assistance to have a physiotherapist-cum-masseuse Shivani Bharuka, who will attend to her at the national camp till the Tokyo Olympics.

The committee cleared financial proposals of over Rs 70 lakhs at the recently-held meeting. Three national federations -- Shooting, Table Tennis and Weightlifting -- also shared their roadmap for the 2020, 2024 and 2028 Olympics with regards to strategy, planning and talent identification during the meeting. The Mission Olympic Cell has sanctioned overseas training in Colorado Springs for men's 3000m steeplechase runner Avinash Sable under Scott Simons till the Tokyo Olympics. In badminton, the committee has cleared the proposal of Sameer Verma to participate in three international competitions -- Dutch Open, Macau Open and Korea Masters in October and November respectively.