SAI approves ₹33 lakh financial assistance for TOPS archers

The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday sanctioned financial assistance of ₹33.18 lakh for the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) development archers.

Archers Parth Salunkhe, Aditya Choudhary, Dipti Kumari, Simranjeet Kaur, Neeraj Chauhan, Ridhi, Madhu Vedwan, Sudhanshu Bisht, Divyansh Kumar, and Tisha Punia are set to benefit from it. Each archer will get approximately ₹3.5 lakh to buy the required sporting equipment.

The Archery Association of India (AAI) earlier announced the Indian national team for the upcoming Archery World Cups this year. It comprises six TOPS development archers - Parth Salunkhe, Aditya Choudhary, Dipti Kumari, Simranjeet Kaur, Neeraj Chauhan, and Ridhi.

Indian archers talk about getting financial assistance

According to SAI, they have approved assistance to add a second equipment (bow set) for the selected archers ahead of international competitions, including the upcoming World Cups and Asian Games.

Speaking about getting financial help for the second bow, archer Ridhi was quoted as saying the following by PTI:

“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.”

Archer Simranjeet Kaur also spoke about how the second bow will help them mentally. She said:

“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.”