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The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) was started in:

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Answer: Option B — 2014

Detailed Solution

The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) was launched by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in September 2014. Its aim is to provide financial and other support to India's top athletes who have the potential to win medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Under TOPS, selected athletes receive:

  • Customised training under world-class coaches, in India and abroad.
  • Support for international competitions and training camps.
  • Sports equipment, sports science support and physiotherapy.
  • A monthly "out-of-pocket allowance" (₹50,000) for their personal expenses.

The scheme is managed by the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC), set up in 2017 under the Sports Authority of India (SAI). The MOC includes former athletes, experts and officials, and it selects athletes and approves their training plans. TOPS has a "core group" of elite athletes and a "development group" of younger athletes being prepared for future Olympics.

The scheme has been credited with improving India's Olympic performance:

  • At Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), India won 7 medals, its best ever tally at that time, including Neeraj Chopra's gold in javelin throw, India's first Olympic gold in athletics.
  • At Paris 2024, India won 6 medals (1 silver and 5 bronze), including two bronze medals by shooter Manu Bhaker and Neeraj Chopra's silver.
  • At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, India won 19 medals, and at the Paris 2024 Paralympics a record 29 medals (7 gold).

Other sports schemes:

  • Khelo India Programme (2017-18): to develop sports at the grassroots level and identify young talent; it includes the Khelo India Youth Games and University Games.
  • Fit India Movement (2019): to encourage physical fitness among citizens; launched on National Sports Day, 29 August.
  • National Sports Development Fund (1998).
  • The National Sports Governance Act was passed by Parliament in 2025 to improve the governance of sports federations.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗2010 is the year India hosted the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
  • ✗2017 is the year the Mission Olympic Cell and Khelo India started.
  • ✗2020 is the year originally scheduled for the Tokyo Olympics.

Quick tip

Remember: TOPS = 2014 (Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mission Olympic Cell 2017); Khelo India = 2017-18; Fit India = 2019; India's best Olympic tally = 7 (Tokyo 2020).

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Sports — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Sports, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers sports GK: major tournaments and their venues, trophies and cups associated with each sport, sports terms, the number of players in a team, sports awards in India, Olympic and Asian Games facts, and famous sportspersons and their achievements. Common questions ask which sport a trophy belongs to (such as the Durand Cup for football or the Ranji Trophy for cricket), which term is used in which sport, and where a tournament was held. Records and results change after every season, so pair static facts such as team sizes and terms with recent results from current affairs. Practise the sports questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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