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The Sports Authority of India (SAI) appointed Commodore PK Garg as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) on Thursday.
Commodore Garg was the High-Performance Director of SAI until June 2021. He is a 1990 Arjuna Award recipient in sailing and a Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Awardee in 1993.
Garg joined the Indian Navy in 1984 and handled various important assignments in over 34 years of service.
As a former athlete, he represented the country in five Asian Games from 1986 to 2002 in the Enterprise Class Sailing Event and was a National Champion five times. He is also a gold and silver medallist at the Enterprise Class Sailing World Championships in 1993 in Zimbabwe and 1997 in Goa.
Garg is also 1990 and 1994 Asian Games bronze medallist.
He served as Secretary of Services Sports Control Board (Indian Armed Forces) from 2014 to 2017. The veteran has also served as the Joint Secretary of the Yachting Association of India for four years.
He will be assuming the charge of CEO TOPS on Monday, October 25, 2021.
SAI to draw up fresh list of TOPS core group
Meanwhile, SAI will choose new athletes as part of its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) core group for the new Olympic cycle this month.
The previous group dissolved after the Tokyo Olympics, where India achieved unprecedented success by winning seven medals.
SAI is holding discussions with the National Sports Federations to finalize the fresh list of athletes in the TOPS core group.
"Inclusion of India's elite athletes in the Core Group of the TOPS for the next Olympic cycle is being discussed with NSFs by SAI ahead of the meeting scheduled in October to finalise the fresh list of athletes in the TOPS Core Group," a release said.
The SAI said following the finalization of the list of TOPS core group, all support will be extended to selected athletes, as per the norms of the scheme.
