22 athletes get Rs.6.85 crore to train for London Olympics

New Delhi, Sep 13 The sports ministry Tuesday said that it has allocated Rs. 6.85 crores from National Sports Development Fund to 22 sportspersons under Operation Excellence 2012 for the London Olympics.
The biggest beneficiary is double trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi, who has been granted Rs. 97.37 lakhs. Among other shooters, former world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu hs received Rs. 91.95 lakhs while Mansher Singh has been allocated Rs. 47.25 lakhs.
India's top ranked tennis player Somdev Devvarman has received Rs. 39.60 lakhs while Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Yuki Bhambri, Sanam Singh and 1992 Atlanta Olympics bronze medallist Leander Paes have received Rs. 36.96 lakhs each.
The assistance sanctioned is towards extensive training abroad, engagement of personal coaches both foreign and Indian, competitions and exposure abroad, scientific back-up in terms of sports psychologists, physiotherapists and masseurs.
List of sportspersons: Ronjan Sodhi (shooting): Rs. 97.37 lakhs Manavjit Singh Sandhu (shooting): Rs. 91.95 lakhs Mansher Singh (shooting): Rs. 47.25 lakhs Krishna Poonia (discus): Rs. 24.20 lakhs Om Prakash Karhana (shot put): Rs. 48.10 lakhs Vikas Gowda (discus): Rs. 24.51 lakhs Somdev Devvarman (tennis): Rs. 39.60 lakhs Sania Mirza (tennis): Rs. 36.96 lakhs Mahesh Bhupathi (tennis): Rs. 36.96 lakhs Rohan Bopanna (tennis): Rs. 36.96 lakhs Yuki Bhambri (tennis): Rs. 36.96 lakhs Sanam Singh (tennis): Rs. 36.96 lakhs Leander Paes (tennis): Rs. 36.96 lakhs Ashish Kumar, Rakesh Patra, Alok Ranajan, Iqrar Hasan (gymnasts-men) Rs. 56.83 lakhs Dipa Karmarkar, B Aruna, Rucha Divekar, Roma Jogalekar, Meenakshi (gymnasts-women: Rs. 33.08 lakhs.

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London 2012 Olympics to be toughest ever for dopers

London, Sept 13: Scientist heading anti-doping operations for the 2012 London Olympics has warned that the event will be the toughest for dopers as about 6,000 tests would be conducted during the games.
Professor David Cowan strongly indicated that a new test to detect blood doping could be held at the games for the first time.
Scientists have so far failed to devise an effective test for detecting autologous blood doping, in which several high- profile Olympic athletes have indulged over the past 30 years, the BBC reports.
Autologous blood doping increases the number of red blood cells and gives a substantial boost to an athlete''''''''s endurance by allowing them to carry more oxygen
Cowan said the new test would compare the age of blood samples by looking at the genetic component of red blood cells.
"We''''''''re working on a scheme where the nuclear material, not in the nucleus itself, but the RNA material in the cell has been shown to change and we are hoping that using those markers we''''''''ll be able to distinguish stored blood from blood that''''''''s in your body naturally," he said.
Though Cowan did not confirm that the autologous doping test would be available by nextsummer, he strongly hinted that it would be ready in time.
"I would never guarantee what we can deliver by a particular time, that''''''''s the nature of research, we''''''''re working very quickly on this, the progress is very exciting. I would put it the other way round, if you''''''''re an athlete be careful - we may have a test in time," he said.

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