In what should be a morale booster for all Brazil-bound athletes, the Sports Ministry has decided to provide Rs. 1 lakh every month as an out of pocket allowance to athletes who will be representing India in the Olympic and Paralympic games to be held in Rio de Janeiro late this year.
Sportspersons coming under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme will be given this bonus. The TOP is a scheme set up by the Sports Ministry under which Olympic medal prospects are given top of the line training which is funded by the government.
The Youth and Sports affairs ministry made this announcement via their official twitter account, “Out of Pocket allowance of one lakh rupees per month to be given to TOP athletes for Rio Olympics/Paralympics,".
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Seventy-seven Indian athletes have qualified for the Olympics from eight different disciplines. Many more Indian athletes are expected to qualify for the games in the next three months.
This development comes after the Sports Ministry’s decision to rent an apartment near the Olympic Village to store food like almonds and milk which are required in the special diet of wrestlers. It will also be used as a recreational centre where the athletes can watch movies, relax and feel at home.
It is hoped that the country’s athletes will return with a record medal haul in this edition of the Olympics. They had collected 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals in the 2012 London Olympic Games. India is expected to break its record of only one gold medal in an individual sport.
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India’s overall Olympic record stands at 9 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 11 bronze medals, 26 medals in total which ranks them at 37 in the overall medal haul rankings between nations.
Eight of the nine gold medals were won in field hockey between the years 1928-1956. The other solitary gold medal was won by shooter Abhinav Bindra.
The Rio Olympic Games begin on the 5 August 2016 and go on till 21 August. The 2012 edition was held in London and the next edition is going to be held in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
