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Neeraj Chopra, who won a historic gold at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships 2023, has received approval from the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) to attend a 12-day training camp in Magglingen, Switzerland. A total of INR 5.89 Lakh has been sanctioned for the camp to be held from September 1-12, part of a release said.
The ‘Golden Boy’ of India, Chopra finished second at the Zurich Diamond League 2023, with his best effort at the meet being 85.71m, which came with his final throw. The Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch won the gold with a throw of 85.86m. Ahead of the Diamond League final in Eugene, USA, later this month, Chopra will be practicing in Switzerland.
Parul Chaudhary, who sealed a Paris Olympics quota by clocking a National Record time of 9:15.31s at the Budapest event in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event, has also been included in the TOPS Core group. It is to be noted that TOPS stands for Target Olympic Podium Scheme, which was formed in 2014 to improve India’s performance at the Olympics and Paralympics by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS).
Additionally, MOC has approved monetary assistance for table tennis champion Sharath Kamal for competing in different competitions, buying equipment, and hiring personal coach Chris Pfeiffer until the Paris 2024 Olympics. The star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have also been given assistance by masseur Nishant Nagpuri to accompany them for the China Open 2023, scheduled to be held from September 5 to 10.
