The Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju on Friday said that the government will launch Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for junior athletes to groom them for 2024 and 2028 Olympics.
The sports minister made the announcement during the 'Fit Hai to Hit Hai India' webinar which was attended by Union Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Indian shuttler PV Sindhu and Indian football team skipper Sunil Chhetri.
"We're going to start TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) for juniors too. If we identify 10 to 12-yr-old talents today, the government will take care of them, so they'll be ready for 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics," said Rijiju.
"If the government takes them under their tutelage, then their parents will not have any worries. This is a dream for India to be in top 10," he added.
Rijiju also heaped laurels on the positive effect the Fit India movement has had in less than a year.
"Fit India is becoming people's movement in the truest sense. Majority of our 1.3 billion population consists of school children. In the last 8-9 months, 2.5 lakh schools have registered under Fit India. On August 29 this year, we will complete one year of Fit India's launch. In this one year, we can show where we have reached. It has been a complete people's movement," said Rijiju.
The session was moderated by the sports commentator Msh Batavia. The Fit India Talks sessions are being orgsed in association with the Sports Authority of India and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
( With inputs from ANI )