Paris Olympics-bound Kiran Pahal, Sarvesh Kushare and Abha Khatua inducted into TOPS core group
Ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024, the Sports Ministry has inducted quarter-miler Kiran Pahal, high-jumper Sarvesh Anil Kushare, and shot-putter Abha Khatua into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) core group. Sports Authority of India (SAI) confirmed the inclusion of three Paris Olympics-bound Indian athletes via a press release on Wednesday, July 3.
The TOPS is a flagship program created by the Indian sports ministry in order to identify potential Olympic and Paralympic medal winners and help their training by providing financial and infrastructural assistance.
While Kiran Pahal achieved the Paris Olympics quota after breaching the qualification standard in the women’s 400 event last week at the Inter-State National Athletics Championships in Panchkula, Sarvesh and Abha secured their spots via the ranking quota.
Kiran Pahal achieved direct qualification for Paris Olympics 2024
Kiran Pahal put up an impressive show in last week’s Inter-State Athletics National Championships in the women's 400m discipline.
Returning to the track after an injury, Kiran stole the spotlight when she clocked 50.92 seconds in the semi-final breaching the Olympic qualification mark. She continued her dominating performance in the final, clocking 50.92 seconds yet again.
It would be interesting to watch her performance at Paris 2024 after her excellent show at the Panchkula Athletics Meet.
On the other hand, the high jumper from Maharashtra Sarvesh Anil Kushare has been hogging the spotlight for a long time. He secured the silver medal at the Asian Athletics Championships with a best jump of 2.26m
Sarvesh secured his Paris Olympics 2024 quota via the ranking route, occupying the 23rd rank. He bagged the gold medal at the recently concluded Inter-State Athletics Championships with a best jump of 2.25m.
Moving forward, the national record holder in women's shot put with a throw of 18.41m, Abha Khatua secured her berth for the Paris Olympics 2024 via the rankings route, bagging the 23rd spot.
Though the West Bengal-born shot putter missed out on the Asian Games in 2023 due to an injury, she had an exceptional outing at the Federation Cup in Odisha this year, throwing a huge 18.41m to break the national record and accumulated a huge improvement by 0.35m from her previous best of 18.06m.