3 shooters and 1 para-badminton player added to Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) core group
Skeet shooters Anantjeet Naruka and Raiza Dhillon, trap shooter Rajeshwari Kumari, and para-badminton player Palak Kohli have been added to the core group of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Most recently, tennis star Sumit Nagal and Equestrian quota winner Anush Aggarwala also made it to the list. Notably, these players have been rewarded by the sports ministry for their impressive performances over the last year.
Skeet shooter Anantjeet Singh secured the Paris Olympics 2024 quota in the men’s skeet category after his heroics at the Asian Shotgun Championships 2024. He clinched the silver medal in the campaign. He’s currently the top-ranked (8) Indian skeet shooter in the rankings.
Raiza Dhillon, the other skeet shooter who made it to the core group, made history after becoming the first-ever Indian female shooter to secure an Olympic spot in the skeet category. She clinched a gold medal at the Asian Shotgun Championships in January 2024.
Furthermore, she also secured the bronze medal at the mixed team event at the Asian Championships. Moreover, Raiza bagged a silver medal at the Junior World Championships 2023 in Changwon, South Korea.
Moving to trap shooting, national champion Rajeshwari Kumari made it to the TOPS core group list after her impressive performances in the last year. She secured India’s first quota for the Paris Olympics 2024 in the women’s trap event.
National champion Rajeshwari Kumari has been in tremendous form since last year when she made it to the final of the World Championships and earned India's first quota for the Paris Olympics in the women's trap event.
She bagged the spot after finishing fifth in the women's trap final at the ISSF World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan, in August 2023. She is currently ranked ninth in the world with 1118 rating points.
Para shuttler Palak Kohli also part of the list
Para badminton player Palak Kohli, who secured her first World Championship medal earlier this year with a bronze, is also part of the core group.
Interestingly, the shuttler won three medals at the sixth National Para Badminton Championships in March 2024, clinching titles in singles, and doubles and a silver medal in the mixed doubles.