Paddler Soumyajit credits Olympic Solidarity Programme

The scholarship that he received, helped Ghosh improve his game.

"The programme has helped me a lot. The Olympic Solidarity scholarship enabled me to travel to Falkenberg in Sweden to train under Peter Karlsson (former world and European doubles champion) and play at the Falkenberg club with some other good players.

"Without the scholarship it would have been difficult to cover those costs," the North Bengal player has told the Olympic Review, the official publication of the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic Solidarity is the body that ensures that talented sportspersons, irrespective of their financial status, have an equal chance of reaching the Games and succeeding there.

Within its total budget, USD 61 million was earmarked to provide support to athletes for the 2009-2012 Olympic Solidarity quadrennial period, according to the official magazine of the Olympic Movement.

Ghosh, who won a bronze at the World Juniors in 2010, is part of the Indian six-member squad currently taking part in the Asian Table Tennis Olympic qualifiers at Hong Kong.

The 18-year-old paddler, who first picked up a TT bat at the age of five, also helped India secure the third place in the World Juniors team event held in 2011. (More) PTI SSR NP AH