Mittal Champions Trust supports India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n athletes with world-beating potential. It is funded by Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Mittal

Lakshmi Narayan Mittal is an Indian steel magnate. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company....

 and was initiated by his son-in-law Amit Bhatia

Amit Bhatia

Amit Bhatia, a businessman and philanthropist, was born in London in 1979, to Arun and Renu Bhatia. He has an older brother and a younger sister . He is fluent in Hindi, English and Spanish....

.

It was founded on 9 November 2005 by Mahesh Bhupathi

Mahesh Bhupathi

Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi is an Indian professional tennis player widely regarded as among the best doubles players in the world with 11 Grand Slam titles to his credit. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam tournament...

. The first beneficiary was Joshna Chinappa

Joshna Chinappa

Joshna Chinappa is a squash player based in India.Joshna was the first Indian girl to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 in the under 19 category, at Sheffield, U.K and was also the youngest Indian women's national champion....

, India's best squash player. The trust was formed due to Mittal being disappointed by the dismal performance by Indians, who won just one bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 in the 1996 Summer Olympics

1996 Summer Olympics

The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....

, another bronze in the 2000 Summer Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 and a silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 in the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

. The initial funding is $9 million. The trust aims at developing Indian athletes for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The sports in focus are Squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

, Badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, Archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

, Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, Shooting sports

Shooting sports

A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...

, Swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 and Heptathlon

Heptathlon

A heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta and athlon . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.-Women's Heptathlon:...

. The foundation has said that they won't be supporting cricket.

Players supported

Mittal Champions Trust has 40 athletes as of now. They had supported Abhinav Bindra when he had problem in importing ammunition.
The trust supported Abhinav with 50 lacs. MCT also plans to develop training facilities in the country.

Boxing

• Akhil Kumar
  Akhil Kumar
  Akhil Kumar is an Indian boxer who has won several international and national boxing awards. He practices an “Open Guarded” boxing style. In 2005, the Indian government gave him the Arjuna Award for his achievements in international Boxing...
  
  
• Jitender Kumar
  Jitender Kumar
  Jitender Kumar is an Indian boxer who has medaled twice at Commonwealth Games.-Biography:Jitender Kumar hails from Bhiwani, Haryana. He was trained at Sports Authority of India facility in Bhiwani under coach Jagdish Singh.-Career:...
  
  
• Dinesh Kumar

Shooting

• Abhinav Bindra
  Abhinav Bindra
  Abhinav Singh Bindra is an Indian shooter from Zirakpur, Mohali, Punjab and is the current World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event...
  
  
• Anjali Bhagwat
• Ronjan Sodhi
• Suma Shirur
• Heena Sidhu
  Heena Sidhu
  Heena Sidhu is an Indian shooter. She along with Annu Raj Singh won the gold medal in women's Pairs 10 metre air pistol at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Heena and Annu won the 14th gold medal for India from the shooting range...
  
  

Swimming

• Virdhawal Khade
  Virdhawal Khade
  Virdhawal Vikram Khade is an Indian swimmer. He competed in the men's 50 m, 100 m and 200 m Freestyle swimming events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing setting an Indian national record in 100 m Freestyle while winning his unseeded heat, but failed to qualify for the semifinals in his events...
  
  

Wrestling

• Yogeshwar Dutt
• Naveen Singh Suhag
• Palwinder Singh Cheema
• Mosaum khatri

Archery

• Bombayla Devi
• Mangal Singh Champia
  Mangal Singh Champia
  image:Mangal Champia.JPGMangal Singh Champia is an Indian archer, who won the bronze medal in the team competition at the 2006 Asian Games. He was conferred with the Arjuna award by President of India for the year 2009...
  
  

Squash

• Dipika Pallikal
  Dipika Pallikal
  Dipika Pallikal also known as Dipika Rebecca Pallikal is a squash player. She was born on 21 September 1991. She played her first international tournament in London when she was in her sixth grade, and till date, Dipika has won the German Open, Dutch Open, French Open, Australian Open, Scottish...
  
  
• Joshna Chinappa
  Joshna Chinappa
  Joshna Chinappa is a squash player based in India.Joshna was the first Indian girl to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 in the under 19 category, at Sheffield, U.K and was also the youngest Indian women's national champion....
  
  

Athletics

• Krishna Poonia
  Krishna Poonia
  Krishna Poonia, is a national woman discus throw champion of India. She led an Indian clean sweep in the women's discus final on 11th October 2010, winning the Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medal with a throw of 61.51 metres.-Early life:...
  
  

Sailing

• Nitin Mongia

Awards

L N Mittal announced a 1.5 crore cash award for Abhinav Bindra

Abhinav Bindra

Abhinav Singh Bindra is an Indian shooter from Zirakpur, Mohali, Punjab and is the current World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event...

 for winning the gold medal in Olympics.

External links

• Mittal Champions Trust website