India’s ace singles tennis player, Sumit Nagal, has officially secured a spot in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), courtesy of the Indian Sports Ministry. Nagal has enjoyed a remarkable 2024, achieving a career milestone by breaking into the ATP Top 100 and making history as the first Indian in 35 years to defeat a seeded player at a Grand Slam singles event.

Nagal joins Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan, who have been part of the scheme since 2018, as the exclusive tennis representatives benefiting from the program.

The Official TOPS Athlete List

End Of A Long Wait

In September last year, Nagal shared that he had just 900 euros left in his bank account. Despite being India’s sole singles representative on the ATP Tour in the last few years, Nagal expressed frustration at his funding appeals consistently being overlooked by both the government and corporates alike. However, his stellar performance in 2024 almost forced authorities to take notice and do the needful.

About TOPS

TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which is an attempt to provide assistance to India’s top athletes. The Scheme looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win medals in the Olympics.

In order to improve India’s performance at Olympics and Paralympics, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) started the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in September 2014. This was revamped in April 2018 to establish a technical support team for managing the TOPS athletes and providing holistic support. The scheme is fully functional and has been extending all requisite support to probable athletes identified for the 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games including foreign training, international competition, equipment and coaching camp besides monthly stipend of Rs. 50,000/- for each athlete.