Champions to groom youngsters

SPORTS:Mittal Champions Trust will rope in Olympic stars to encourage budding athletes.

India’s three-medal haul at the Beijing Olympics was just the shot in the arm the two-year-old Mittal Champions Trust (MCT), set up by the world’s richest Indian Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, required.

The trust has now drawn up plans to train and support more athletes for a bigger medal haul at 2012 London Olympics. It hopes to double the number of athletes it trains from 40 at present to 80 by December.

“We want to tap junior-level talent in preparation for the next Olympics. Right from providing them training and physiotherapists, we will work on their fitness and competitiveness,” Manisha Malhotra, CEO, MCT, says.

The trust hopes that by organising interaction with the athletes who represented India at the games this year, it can encourage the youngsters to take the next big leap.

“It is now time to take back from the athletes. We are looking at organising interactions and training sessions of these players with the junior athletes so that they can gain from the Olympics experience,” says Malhotra. She adds that Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra, a beneficiary of the trust, has responded positively to the suggestion of such a programme.

“Bindra is keen on helping out the younger lot. Even Akhil Kumar has lots to share. We hope not only will they inspire young talent but also help them with training techniques,” says Malhotra.

Currently, the trust is supporting athletes in squash, archery, boxing, shooting, swimming, athletics and sailing. “It is crucial to identify and nurture talent in these Olympic sports and not invest in sports like cricket which already has a huge support base,” she adds.

The trust has supported Bindra and pugilist Vijender Kumar, who bagged a bronze medal, shuttler Saina Nehwal, pugilists Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar, who did not win medals but managed to leave a mark. The first Indian swimmer to qualify for the Olympics, 16-year-old Veerdhaval Khade is also a product of the trust.

While the trust had set aside $10 million to start with, only a small part of it has been used. Still, the corpus could grow in the days to come. “We have enough funds to support the needs of our athletes,” Malhotra says. She feels that more companies should come out and support all kinds of sports where an Olympic gold can be secured.

The MCT has six members and is headed by Mittal. Other members include his son Aditya, son-in-law Ashish Bhatia, tennis pro Mahesh Bhupathi, cricket icon Rahul Dravid and CEO Manisha Malhotra.