NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry has revealed that it has provided funding worth Rs 350 million from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) for the Sports Authority of India’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in the ongoing financial year.
Additionally, the ministry had also granted approximately Rs 60 million to athletes across 22 sports who had officially requested for assistance till 31 December 2018. This particular figure is expected to rise by the end of March going by the pattern of government investment in the last three financial years, which stood at Rs 72.4 million (2017-18), Rs 62.5 million (2016-17) and Rs 90.2 million (2015-16) respectively.
In sports such as archery, athletics, badminton, shooting and weightlifting, the amount of funds granted have reduced this year. It is in boxing (Rs 6.35 million) and chess (Rs 3.9 million) that more financial assistance was sought in 2018-19. The funding of chess specifically increased nearly 4-fold vis-Ã -vis 2017-18.
This information was given by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd.) in a written reply to the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on Thursday.
