SAI Approves Financial Assistance Of Rs 33 Lakh For Asian Games And WC-Bound TOPS Archers

The Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) on Wednesday approved financial assistance of Rs 33.18 lakh for its Target Olympics Podium Scheme's (TOPS) development archers. The beneficiaries include Parth Salunkhe, Aditya Choudhary, Dipti Kumari, Simranjeet Kaur, Neeraj Chauhan, Ridhi, Madhu Vedwan, Sudhanshu Bisht, Divyansh Kumar, and Tisha Punia. Each archer will approximately receive around Rs 3.5 lakh to buy equipments.

According to a SAI statement, they have been granted the assistance to add second equipment (bow set) for international competitions, including upcoming World Cups and Asian Games.

Talking about the financial help in getting the second bow, archer Ridhi, who has been selected to represent India at the upcoming World Cups said: "The second bow set will be really important for us as World Archery recently changed their rules and will now not give us any additional time for setting up in case of an equipment malfunction during the event.

"Thus having a second equipment as a backup will be crucial for all of us so as to not lose out on time or our performance." Simranjeet added: "Having a second bow set will also help us be mentally at peace during practice and event as we will have an immediate backup with us in case of any equipment malfunction.

"We will also not lose out on our practice or event time in case of any equipment failure and will be able to practice with the second bow and get adjusted to it quickly." The Archery Association of India (AAI) had earlier announced the national teams for the upcoming four stages of Archery World Cups in March this year.

Six TOPS development archers, including Parth, Aditya, Dipti, Simranjeet, Neeraj and Ridhi have been selected for these upcoming events.