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Former World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari has been re-inducted into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) core group ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
On Monday, April 29, the Sports Ministry announced the addition of recurve archer Deepika and a handful of other athletes to the TOPS group. Last year, she missed the entire season after taking a maternity break.
The 29-year-old made a comeback earlier this year and has been performing well. She won two gold medals at the Asia Cup 2024 Stage 1 in Iraq. At the recent World Cup in Shanghai, Deepika bagged a silver medal in the women's individual recurve event. She lost 0-6 (26-27, 27-29, 27-28) to World No. 2 Lim Sih-yeon in the summit clash.
The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), during its 133rd meeting, also announced that another archer, Mrinal Chauhan, has been added to the TOPS Development group. Pravin Jadhav has been moved from Development to Core group and para-powerlifter Ashok has been inducted into the TOPS Core group.
For this year's Olympics, only Dhiraj Bommadevara (men’s individual) has qualified for the event thanks to the silver medal he clinched at the Asian Qualifying Tournament in Bangkok last year. Antalya will host the final qualifying tournament for the Paris Games in June.
Besides Deepika Kumari, three squash players get added to TOPS
Alongside Deepika Kumari's induction, the Sports Ministry has also announced that three squash players, Anahat Singh, Abhay Singh, and Velavan Senthilkumar, have also been inducted into the TOPS Development group to help them prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
This comes after the LA organising committee, in October 2023, announced the inclusion of squash in the 2028 edition of the Games.
"Looking at India’s performance in squash in the past two decades, especially at Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, MOC decided to induct three squash players in their TOPS Development group, with the aim to help them provide all required assistance to prepare for the global event," the Sports Ministry said in a press release.
