Suspended wrestler Reetika Hooda named & dropped from TOPS list

Bengaluru: In what appears to be a shoddy work by the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Sports Authority of India, provisionally suspended wrestler Reetika Hooda's name appeared in the updated TOPS core list before the government body scurried to claim that she has now been dropped from the list. 

The much-awaited TOPS or Target Olympic Podium Scheme list (a flagship programme of the sports ministry to support elite athletes with medal potential for Olympics/Paralympics and is overseen by MOC) for 2026 was released on New Year's Eve with plenty of athletes hoping to see their names included or re-included in the list with the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games coming up later in the season.

The TOPS list — which consists of core and development athletes separately — ignored several key performers from 2025 while Asian Championships silver medallist Reetika, who was provisionally suspended for a prohibited substance during an in-competition test last July and awaits a judgement, was included in the list. 

When DH reached out to SAI for clarity on the matter, an official, on preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that Reetika's name was included in the list by mistake and has now been dropped. 

At the time of writing this report, the updated list was yet to be made public as Reetika's name appears in the TOPS core list — consisting of 57 able-bodied and 61 para athletes — on SAI's official website. The much bigger development list consisted of 130 able-bodied athletes. 

It's also worth mentioning that para-athlete Simran Sharma, who lost her World Athletics Para Championships medals after her guide flunked the dope test, was also included in the core group list. 

Athletes listed in the core list are entitled to a monthly out-of-pocket allowance of Rs 50,000, along with provisions for foreign coaching, training, equipment, medical insurance for injury treatment overseas among other perks. Development athletes are provided Rs 25,000 along with the above-mentioned facilities. 

Among the major names added to the core list were javelin thrower Sachin Yadav, who finished fourth at the World Athletics Championships last year, making him the only javelin thrower in the list after Neeraj Chopra.

Karnataka's Dhinidhi in development list; Pranavi, Avani in TAGG

Interestingly, the men's 100m runners, including Karnataka's fastest sprinter Manikanta Hoblidhar, were not kept in the development list despite the medal chances in the relay event at the Asian Games. Leading women's sprinters, including State's SS Sneha, did make the list. 

Among other Karnataka names, none made the core list but six names made the development list while three further made the Target Asian Games Group list (TAGG) list.

Only one Karnataka swimmer, Dhinidhi Desinghu, was considered for the development list while the likes of Srihari Nataraj were not included despite medals galore at the Asian Aquatics Championships last October.

Among shooters, newly-crowned 3-P rifle national champion Tilottama Sen was included while golfers Pranavi Urs and Avani Prashanth were added in the TAGG list. 

Karnataka athletes in TOPS list: Development athletes: Dhinidhi Desinghu (swimming), Ayush Shetty (badminton), Sneha SS (athletics), Tilottama Sen (shooting), Divya TS (shooting), Yashaswini Ghorpade (TT). 

TAGG list: Fouaad Mirza (equestrian), Pranavi Urs (golf), Avani Prashanth (golf).

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