The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of India’s Sports Ministry has approved the participation of ace Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra for a 12-day training camp in Magglingen, Switzerland. The camp is intended to prepare for the Diamond League 2023 final, which will be held in Eugene, USA, next month.
Neeraj scripted history in Budapest by bagging the first gold for India in the World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.17m. Four days later, the star Indian athlete followed his tremendous run in 2023 with a silver (85.71m) in the Diamond League at Zurich.
The 25-year-old will train in Magglingen from September 1 to September 12. The Sports Ministry sanctioned a sum of INR 5.89 lakh for Neeraj’s training stint.
Women’s 3000m steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary has also been included in the Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Core Group. Chaudhary was among the few Indian athletes who managed to qualify for the finals in the World Championships.
She clocked 9:15:31s to break the national record of Lalita Babar’s 9:19.76s, which was achieved during the 2016 Rio Olympics and hence secured the spot for the 2023 Paris Olympics with the automatic qualification being 9:23.00s.
The MOC also approved veteran Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal’s request to participate in various events, acquiring equipment and hiring a personal coach in Chris Pfeiffer until the Olympics next year.
Satikwsairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty to get masseur assist for upcoming tournament
Star Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been allowed the assistance of masseur Nishant Nagpuri to join them in Changzhou for the China Open 2023, scheduled from September 5 to 10.
The World No. 2 pair has already clinched four titles this year – Swiss Open, Indonesia Open, Korea Open, and Japan Open. They lost to the Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the quarterfinal of the BWF World Badminton Championships held in Copenhagen last month.
Chirag and Satwik will be key for India’s Asian Games medal chances. They will have a preparatory tournament just before the continental event considering the competition is scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, China.
