Sports Ministry doubles athletes in MOC
The Hindu
Thakur acknowledges the guiding role of the athletes
The Union Sports Ministry has strengthened the Mission Olympics Cell (MOC) with more athletes to make it even more “athlete centric” in its attempt to best prepare the elite athletes for the Paris Olympics through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Bhaichung Bhutia, Anju Bobby George, Sardara Singh, Anjali Bhagwat, Viren Rasquinha, Monalisa Mehta and Trupti Murgunde will be the athletes in the Mission Olympics Cell.
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur acknowledged the guiding role of the athletes in the MOC for India winning seven medals in the Tokyo Olympics and 19 medals in the Paralympics, while expanding the cell with more athletes.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.