The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Committee recently decided to add 107 more names to the list of athletes to be supported for the upcoming Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2018 and a few for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

While only five of these sports persons are being picked as long term prospects, the selection of Asian Championship gold medallist PU Chitra and exclusion of world championship finallist javelin thrower Davinder Singh Kang and the 4x400m relay teams or 400m sprinters have taken many by surprise.

The TOPS committee had earlier selected only two athletes in their initial 45-member shortlist in August but had clarified that more sports persons will be added in due course.

In the new list, 17 athletes were picked for TOPS support with only middle distance runner Sanjeevani Jadhav and Lilli Das (800m and 1500m) nominated to be supported till 2020 Games.

The most surprising inclusion in the list is of Chitra, who had moved the Kerala High Court after being dropped from the World Championship squad despite qualifying for the event by virtue of becoming the Asian Champion.

However, the Athletics Federation of India had then justified the decision saying her timing was way below the standards required to even participate in major events.

The TOPS Committee has also decided to support 10 weighlifters till the Commonwealth Games in April next year given their success in the recently concluded Commonwealth Championship.

Nine Wushu players will be supported till the Asian Games, so also the Compound Archery Team, five cyclists and seven tennis players

Apart from the required support for training and competition, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has also announced that these players will also get a stipend of Rs 50,000 per month.

Names added to TOPS list

Athletics: (17): Ganapathy Krishnan (20km walk)-CWG-Asian Games

2. Manish Rawat (20km walk)-CWG-Asian Games

3. Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m)-Asian Games

4. Annu Rani (javelin throw)-Asian Games

5. G. Lakshmanan (5000m & 10,000m)-Asian Games

6. Lalita Babar (3000m SC)-Asian Games

7. Lilli Das (800m & 1500m)-Olympic Games 2020

8. Nayana James (long jump)-CWG-Asian Games

9. Om Prakash (shot put)-Asian Games

10. Tejinder Toor (shot put)-Asian Games

11. P. U. Chitra (1500m)-Asian Games

12. Poornima Hembram (heptathlon)-Asian Games

13. Sanjivani Jadhav (5000m & 10,000m)-Olympic Games 2020

14. Sudha Singh (3000m SC)-CWG-Asian Games

15. Swapna Barman (heptathlon)-Asian Games

16. Tejaswin Shanker (high jump)-CWG-Asian Games-Olympic Games 2020

17. V. Neena (long jump)-CWG-Asian Games

Boxing (7)

1. S. Sarjubala Devi (48kg) CWG

2. Sonia Lather (57kg) Asian Games

3. L. Devendro Singh (52kg) Asian Games

4. Kavinder Bisht (52kg) Asian Games

5. Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) Asian Games

6. Sumit Sangwan (91kg) Asian Games

7. Satish Kumar (+91kg) Asian Games

Weightlifting (10)

1. Muthupandi Raja (62kg) CWG

2. Deepak Lather (62kg) CWG

3. Ragala Venkat Rahul (85kg) CWG

4. Vikas Thakur (94/85kg) CWG

5. Ajay Singh (77kg) CWG

6. Jimjamg Deru (62/56kg) CWG

7. Pardeep Singh (94/105kg) CWG

8. Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu (53kg) CWG

9. Matasa Santoshi (53/58kg) CWG

10. Punam Yadav (63/69kg)

Wrestling (8)

1. Parveen Rana (74kg freestyle) CWG

2. Satywrat Kadian (97kg freestyle) CWG

3. Sumit (125kg freestyle) CWG

4. Lalita (55kg freestyle) CWG

5. Sarita (58kg freestyle) CWG

6. Gyanendar Dahiya (59kg Greco-Roman) Asian Games

7. Hardeep Singh (8kg Greco-Roman) Asian Games

8. Harpreet Singh (80kg-Greco-Roman) Asian Games

Wushu (9)

1. Uchit Sharma (52kg Sanshou) Asian Games

2. Narendra Grewal (65kg Sanshou) Asian Games

3. Arunpama Devi (6kg Sanshou) Asian Games

4. Budha Chandra Singh (56kg Sanshou) Asian Games

5. Santosh Kumar Singh (56kg Sanshou) Asian Games

6. Sanatombi Devi (Eaijhiqan) Asian Games

7. Yumnam Santohi Devi (52kg Sanshou) Asian Games

8. Surya Bhanu Pratap (60kg Sanshou) Asian Games

9. Gyan Das (Eaijhiqan) Asian Games

Archery: (14)

1. Jayanta Talukdar (recurve men’s team) Asian Games

2. Sachin (Recurve men’s team) Asian Games

3. Tarundeep Rai (Recurve men’s team) Asian Games

4. Bombayla Devi (recurve women’s team) Asian Games

5. Laxmi Rani Manji (recurve women’s team) Asian Games

6. Monika Saren (Recurve women’s team) Asian Games

7. Amanjeet (compound men’s team) Asian Games

8. Abhishek Verma (compound men’s team) Asian Games

9. C, R. Srither (compound men’s team) Asian Games

10. Khushbur Dhayal (compound women’s team) Asian Games

11. Jyoti Surekha (compound women’s team) Asian Games

12. Divya Dhayal (compound women’s team) Asian Games

13. Trisha Deb (compound women’s team) Asian Games

14. Lily Chanu (compound women’s team) Asian Games

Para Sport (19)

1. Amit Kumar Saroha (club throw) Asian Para Games

2. Deepa Malik (shot put) Asian Para Games

3. Devendra Jhajharia (javelin throw) Asian Para Games

4. Karamjyoti (discus/shot put) Asian Para Games

5. Mariyappan Thangavelu (high jump) Asian Para Games

6. Ram Pal Chahar (high jump) Asian Para Games

7. Rinku Hooda (javelin throw) Asian Para Games

8. Sandeep Choudhary (javelin throw) Asian Para Games

9. Jayanti Behara (200m/400m) Asian Para Games

10. Rohit Kumar (discus throw) Asian Para Games

11. Sharad Kumar (high jump) Asian Para Games

12. Sundar Singh Gurjar (javelin throw) Asian Para Games

13. 13. Varun Singh Bhati (high jump) Asian Para Games

14. Virender Dhankar (shot put/javelin) Asian Para Games

15. Avani Lekhara (shooting) Asian Para Games

16. Pooja Agarwal (shooting) Asian Para Games

17. Rubina Francis (shooting) Asian Para Games

18. Farman Basha (powerlifting) Asian Para Games

19. Sachin Chaudhary (Powerlifting) Asian Para Games

Cycling (5)

1. Deborah Herald (sprint team sprint, Keirin) Asian Games

2. Aleena Reji (sprint, team sprint, Keirin) Asian Games

3. Sanuraj P. (sprint, team sprint, Keirin) Asian Games

4. Ranjit Singh (sprint, team sprint, Keirin) Asian Games

5. Sahil Kumar (sprint, team sprint, Keirin) Asian Games

Judo (4)

1. Avtar Singh (90kg) Asian Games

2. Kalpana Devi (52kg) Asian Games

3. Vijay Kumar Yadav (60kg0 Asian Games

4. Tulika Maan (78+kg) Asian Games

Gymnastics (4):

1. Rakesh Kumar (artistic) CWG

2. Ashish Kumar (artistic) CwG

3. Pranati nayak (artistic) CWG

4. Aruna Budhdha Reddy (artistic) CWG

Badminton (1)

1. Lashya Sen (men’s singles) Olympics 2020

Tennis (7)

1. Yuki Bhambir (men’s singles) Asian Games

2. Ramkumar Ramanathan (men’s singles) Asian Games

3. Sumit Nagal (men’s singles) Asian Games Long term

4. Rohan Bopanna (men’s doubles) Asian Games

5. Sania Mirza (women’s doubles) Asian Games

6. Prarthana Thombare (women’s doubles) Asian Games

7. Karman Kaur Thandi (women’s singles) Asian Games Long term

Shooting (2)

1. Jitu Rai (air pistol) Asian Games

2. Onkar Singh (air pistol) Asian Games