The government’s flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) is set for a major revamp, with Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday saying that quarterly evaluation of selected athletes is being considered, along with a greater focus on high-medal-yielding events like aquatics and cycling.

Currently, the assessment of athletes is carried out half-yearly, and the TOPS core and developmental groups do not feature any cyclist and has just one swimmer in the latter list.

The Minister noted that the TOPS strength, which stands at 399 right now (core 51, core para 62, development 166, target asian games group – 57, hockey – 63), has increased significantly from 245 in the previous year.

“The next target is to expand the TOPS pool to 3000 athletes by 2032, maintaining a core-to-development ratio of 1:5. This will be further scaled up to 5000 athletes by 2036,” he told reporters here.

“The criteria for athletes is also in the works and the committee could be meeting quarterly to decide on the selections,” he added.

Driving the expansion plan would be aquatics, cycling, rowing and gymnastics. PTI reported in January that the government planned to shift the focus to these disciplines due to the high number of medals they offer at the Olympic Games.

Aquatics, which includes swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and open water swimming, will offer 55 of the more than 350 overall medals that will be up for grabs across 36 disciplines in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

But India is not expected to get any of these.

Rowing, too, has 45 medals at stake in Los Angeles across 15 events, and cycling, where 22 events will throw up 66 medals.

“In medal-heavy disciplines such as Aquatics, Cycling, and Gymnastics (offered 18 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics), the number of athletes in the development group will be increased, with a structured progression plan to transition them into the core group within the next five years,” the minister asserted.

“A comprehensive roadmap is being developed to integrate identified talent from Khelo India and ASMITA into the TOPS development group, with a clear pathway for their eventual inclusion in the TOPS core group,” he added.

The government is banking on the past success achieved by targeted funding and support to wrestling, badminton and shooting that led to medals at the Olympics.

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TOPS is currently headed by former rower Col. N S Johal and features former athletes and administrators. It assesses training proposals of elite athletes and streamlines the support system for them.

TOPS core athletes get an allowance of Rs 50,000. They are also paid USD 25 per day during the period of training and competition overseas.

Athletes in the developmental group are given 25,000 as allowance and an additional USD 25 while training and competing abroad.

Both the core and developmental athletes are evaluated for their performance and fitness levels and the list is pruned or strengthened based on this assessment.

Published on Apr 13, 2026