New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) has, for the first time, approved a monthly pocket allowance of 25,000 for the Indian Senior men's and women's hockey teams at their 156th meeting on Thursday, according to a release from MYAS.

Hockey India will submit the players' lists to the Sports Authority of India (SAI). A total of 80 players from both teams will be given a monthly pocket allowance, which will cost 20 lakhs every month.

This is a part of the recent achievements of the men's team, winning Bronze at Paris Olympics, Tokyo Olympics 2020 and Gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023.

In recent fixtures, India's form has dipped a bit after six straight losses. The Indian men's hockey team will now take on their nemesis in modern hockey, Belgium.

Belgium comes into the game tomorrow with a 6-3 win against Spain, after they lost 1-2 in the previous tie to the same team.

They are currently placed third in the points table after the Netherlands and Australia, respectively. The Indian men's and women's teams will take on Belgium in a double-header on June 21 and 22.

India has slipped to the 8th position in the current pool standings, and with two matches to go, the team will look to end their campaign with a consolation win.

MOC in their previous meeting, inducted seven compound archers in the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) Core group.

The MOC took cognisance of the International Olympic Committee's recent decision to make compound archery part of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. The 155th MOC was attended by Pullela Gopichand, Viren Rasquinha, Prashanti Singh, Kamlesh Mehta, MM Somaya, Siddharth Shanker of Reliance Foundation, among others.

It is the first time since archery's re-introduction to the Olympic Games in 1972 that a new bow style has been added to the competition. The seven compound archers inducted directly into the TOPS Core group are Ojas Pravin Deotale, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami, Abhishek Verma, Parneet Kaur, Priyansh, and Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar. (ANI)