Rs 3.95 crore spent by govt for athletes` training

New Delhi: An amount of Rs 3.95 crore has been spent so far by the government for the London Olympics preparations of 30 athletes, the sports ministry said on Friday.

The funds were allocated under `Operation Excellence for London Olympics 2012` (OPEX 2012) Scheme. The total duration of the camps has been 335 days. This was stated by Athletics Federation of India Director M L Dogra in a review meeting of the preparation for Olympics called by Sports Minister Ajay Maken. In the meeting, Maken emphasised that AFI needs to adopt a futuristic outlook besides focussing intensively on London Olympics so that talent pool in the country remains in proper circulation. He said more players should be included in the camps so that the number of athletes is increased from present strength of 30 (15 men and 15 women) to the sanctioned strength of 47. Dogra also gave the details of training of eight top athletes currently undergoing training abroad under the National Sports Development Fund scheme. Discus thrower Vikas Gowda, who has been training at the United States, has been sanctioned USD 14,210 till December 31 2011. Shot putter Om Prakash Singh has been sanctioned Euro 49,140 for his training in Hungary. Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Krishna Poonia has been sanctioned USD 1,21,895 for training stints in South Africa/ United States till the end of last year while euro 78,500 was spent for triple jumper Mayookha Johny`s training in Berlin along with her coach G R Shyam Kumar. Four top long distance runners -- Preeja Sreedharan, Kavita Raut, Sudha Singh and O P Jaisha -- were allocated USD 1,93,150 for their training in Kenya. Eight athletes -- Krishna Poonia (discus throw), Mayookha Johny (triple jump and long jump), Tinku Luka (800m), Vikas Gowda (discus throw), Om Prakash Karhana (shot put), Ram Singh Yadav (marathon), Babubhai Panucha (20km walk) and Gurmeet Singh (20km race). PTI