BJP MLA and former Mumbai Cricket Association president Ashish Shelar has been appointed as a member of the Mission Olympic Cell.
The Mission Olympic Cell is a 16-member committee working on the country’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Shelar has earlier also served as the president of the Mumbai District Football Association and the Jump Rope Federation of India. Notably, he was the minister for school education and sports in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government. Shelar is also credited with starting the Mumbai Premium League.
The TOPS has been launched by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS), Government of India. Under the aegis of the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), the committee works towards achieving excellence in sports and creating better facilities for athletes, officials said.
The cell will select athletes for TOPS Core and Development Group for Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. It has been tasked with developing a criteria for identification of young talent to be selected for the LA 2028 Development Group. The cell will also develop short, medium and long term targets for athletes and monitor their preparedness and actual performance, among others.
The committee is chaired by the director general, Sports Authority of India and its members include the president of the Indian Olympic Association, president of the Athletics Federation of India, president of the Wrestling Federation of India, president of the Archery Association of India, president of the Boxing Federation of India and world-renowned athletes like Baichung Bhutia (Football), Anju Bobby George (Athletics), Anjali Bhagwat (Shooting), Trupti Murgunde (Badminton), Sardara Singh (Hockey), Viren Rusquinha (Hockey and Olympic Gold Quest), Malav Shroff (Yachting and Sports Science Specialist), Monalisa Mehta (Table Tennis), Deepthi Bopaiah (CEO, GoSports Foundation), Yogeshwar Dutt (Wrestling) and Gagan Narang (Shooting).
