Bhardwaj youngest in TOP scheme

Talented shooter Shapath Bhardwaj, 15, has become the country’s youngest athlete to figure in the government’s Target Olympic Podium scheme.

The Meerut-based Bhardwaj, studying in Class 10, is among 45 elite athletes, including Olympic medallists P.V. Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Saina Nehwal, to be selected for the ambitious scheme.

The TOP scheme of the sports ministry, chaired by Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, selected the athletes after evaluating their performances in relation to the international standard.

Bhardwaj attracted attention of the shooting fraternity when he was selected for India’s double trap team at 14 after selection trials in Patiala in November, 2016.

He represented India along with his senior team mates Ankur Mittal and Sangram Dahya in the ISSF World Cup, Delhi in February 2017 and thereafter the World Cup in Mexico in April 2017 where he secured the 10th and 12th ranks respectively.

He then finished fourth in the qualifiers of the World Cup in Cyprus this May and topped the 22 shot shoot-off to enter the final. He participated in the ninth International Junior Shotgun Cup in Finland in July and scored 137 out of 150 as India won the gold medal.

He won the individual as well as team gold in the International Junior Grand Prix in Italy last year.

Bhardwaj will now represent India in the forthcoming Junior World Cup in Italy.