Raising funds no issue, finding real talent is: OGQ's Bajaj

Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), an organisation that supports prospective medal winners at the global sports event, says raising funds from corporates and individuals for their effort is not a problem but what remains a huge challenge is finding really talented athletes.
"Getting the requisite funds is not a problem, I feel. The problem is in finding the potential Olympic medal winners. It's a shame that in a huge country like India we have found only 65 so far," said OGQ Director Niraj Bajaj here today.
The former national table tennis champion was speaking at a function organised by the not-for-profit body founded by sports legends Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi.

OGQ currently supports 43 senior sports persons and 22 juniors, who are all considered to be potential medal winners at the Olympics. The list contains top shooters Jitu Rai and Gagan Narang, shuttle queen Saina Nehwal and some top grapplers and boxers.
Among other things OGQ had supported Rai in procuring good weapons, woman boxer Sarita Devi in her rehabilitation after undergoing a wrist surgery and Saina in shifting training base from her hometown Hyderabad to Bengaluru, OGQ Chief Operating Officer Viren Rasquinha said.
Ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, also supported by OGQ, said over the last 5-6 years the badminton scene in India has seen a lot of improvement as all top players are staying and training at one place - the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

"We train together and there is intense competition which has helped India to have the largest number of men shuttlers in the top 50, even more than China," said the 28- year-old player who lost in the quarter-finals of the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Both Sethi, who was present at the function, and Bajaj expressed optimism that Indian athletes would perform better in next year's Rio Olympic Games than at London in 2012.