Asian Games medallists Annu Rani, Dhiraj Bommadevara to train abroad

Annu Rani, the Asian Games gold medal-winning javelin thrower, is among the several Indian athletes whose proposals for training stints abroad have been approved by the Mission Olympic Cell, the dedicated body of the Sports Authority of India.

While Annu will train at the Leichtathletik Gemeinschaft Offenburg Centre in Germany under coach Werner Daniels, archer Dhiraj Bommadevara, who won a silver medal in the men's team event at the Asiad, will head to South Korea. He will train at Kim Archery School under the guidance of coach Sonam Tshering Bhutia later this month.

Greco-roman wrestler Sunil Kumar’s proposal for a 68-day training stint in Budapest, Hungary has also been approved. Sunil will train there to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics Qualifiers scheduled next year.

Meanwhile, seven judokas including Vijay Kumar Yadav, Tulika Maan, Yash Ghangas, Asmita Dey, Shraddha Chopade and Himanshi Tokas, along with their coach Yashpal Solanki, have received the nod to train and compete in Tokyo, Japan.

The MOC has also accepted the proposal of India's top-ranked men's singles badminton player HS Prannoy for monetary assistance towards his strength, conditioning and psychology programme services till the Paris Olympics.

Another Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, the world former world no. 1, also received MOC's nod to fly to China Masters with his straight and conditioning coach Varun Kumar.