The Sports Ministry announced on Friday that Winter Olympics-bound Arif Khan has been awarded Rs 17.46 lakhs for his training in Europe as a result of his membership in the TOPS Core group.
Khan, 31, is the first Indian athlete to qualify for two sports in the Winter Olympic Games, which will begin on February 4 in Beijing. Khan will compete in slalom and giant slalom events.
‘The Sports Ministry’s Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) has approved the inclusion of Alpine Skiing athlete Md Arif Khan in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Core group, until the Winter Olympics, scheduled this February in Beijing, China’, the Ministry said in a statement.
Khan is now training in Austria, accompanied by his coach and physiotherapist. ‘The MOC approved the European training camp for Khan for a total of 35 days, which started since his qualification for the Winter Olympics’, the Ministry further said.
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Khan secured the quota in the giant slalom at a tournament in Montenegro in December last year, just a month after obtaining his quota in the alpine skiing slalom category in an Olympic qualifier in Dubai. He is from Jammu and Kashmir and holds the distinction of becoming the first Indian to gain direct quota slots in two separate Winter Olympics events.
At the 2011 South Asian Winter Games in Uttarakhand, the Gulmarg-based athlete won two gold medals in the Slalom and Giant Slalom categories.
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