What the TOPS Scheme Is and Who It's Actually For

India sent 119 athletes to Rio 2016. The country won 2 medals. That performance directly triggered a restructuring of how the government funds its elite athletes. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) is what came out of that moment of reckoning.

TOPS is not a scheme for aspiring athletes. It is for athletes who are already performing at or near international podium level. Understanding what it is and what it is not is the starting point.

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What TOPS is

The Target Olympic Podium Scheme is run by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI). It was launched in 2014 and significantly expanded after Rio 2016. The Mission Olympics Wing manages the scheme’s operations and evaluates which athletes receive support in each Olympic cycle.

The purpose is specific: provide elite Indian athletes with the resources to compete for medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Not to develop talent from scratch, but to convert existing high-level talent into podium results.

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The two groups

Information Hub

TOPS: Core Group vs Development Group

Core Group	Development Group
Who is in it	Olympic/Paralympic athletes who have already competed at World Championships or Asian Games level	Athletes with demonstrated Olympic potential: typically national champions or Asian championship finalists
Support	Customized; any requirement related to Olympic preparation is funded	Defined package: training, equipment, competition, physio support covered
Monthly cash	Higher cash support (verify at sportsauthorityofindia.nic.in, changes between Olympic cycles)	Lower cash support, a developmental amount
Coach provision	A foreign coach can be funded if required	National-level coach support
How you enter	SAI recommendation plus Mission Olympic Cell review	National federation nomination plus MOC review
Examples	Olympic medal contenders in the final 2 years before the Games	Junior Asian medallists, senior national champions on an upward trajectory

TOPS is not applied for; it is nominated by your federation and confirmed by SAI Mission Olympic Cell. Development Group is the relevant pathway for most athletes on this platform.

Core Group: Athletes who have a realistic chance of winning a medal at the immediately upcoming Olympic Games. Selection is based on current world ranking, recent performance at major international competitions and sport-specific benchmarks that vary by discipline. These athletes receive the highest level of support available under the scheme.

Development Group: Athletes whose trajectory suggests they could compete for a medal at the next Olympic cycle, typically four to eight years away. Support at this level is lower than Core Group but still significant. The benchmarks for Development Group entry are set lower than Core, but this is still elite international-level performance, not national or state level.

The specific thresholds for each group, and which sports have active spots open in a given cycle, are determined jointly by the national federation and the Mission Olympics Wing. These shift with each Olympic cycle as the competitive landscape changes.

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What TOPS provides

Athletes in the Core Group receive (verify current figures at yas.nic.in and sportsauthorityofindia.nic.in before acting on any figure):

• A monthly out-of-pocket allowance (reported at ₹50,000 per month for Core Group athletes; verify current amounts at the official source)
• Full funding for international competition and exposure camps: flights, accommodation, entry fees
• Foreign coaching access: training with international coaches, either in India or abroad
• Scientific support through SAI: sports science, physiotherapy, sports psychology and nutrition services
• Equipment and kit grants
• Access to the best national training facilities and surfaces

Development Group athletes receive support in the same categories at a lower funding level. Monthly allowance for Development Group has been reported at ₹25,000 (verify current amounts at yas.nic.in).

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Who this is actually for

This is not a scheme for most student-athletes. TOPS is for athletes who are already:

• Ranked in the world top 16 in their discipline, or
• Have won medals at Asian Games, Commonwealth Games or World Championships, or
• Are clearly on the trajectory toward those benchmarks within the next four to eight years

Neeraj Chopra won gold at Tokyo 2021 while on TOPS. PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have all been on the scheme. These are not names to aspire to by joining TOPS. They are names that earned TOPS through what they had already achieved at the international level.

If you are a school-level or state-level athlete, TOPS is not the target right now. The relevant programs at your current stage are SAI Training Centers and the Khelo India scholarship. The path to TOPS runs through those programs first.

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