The Centre has designated 12 Olympians as National Observers in their respective disciplines to assist the Government, Sports Authority of India, and National Sports Federations (NSFs) concerned in the preparation and implementation of the long term development plan with respect to high priority and priority sports. A Sports Ministry statement issued in New Delhi today says the National Observers will also be consulted as a group on crosscutting issues impacting sports development in the country.These National Observers will be playing a key role in the implementation of action plans for Mission Olympics 2020, 2024 and 2028.Besides shooter Abhinav Bindra, other named as National Observers are P T Usha and Anju Bobby George (athletics), Sanjeev Kumar Singh (archery), Aparna Popat (badminton), MC Mary Kom and Akhil Kumar (boxing), Jagbir Singh (hockey), Somdev Devvarman (tennis), Karnam Malleshwari (weightlifting), Sushil Kumar (wrestling), I M Vijayan (football), Khajan Singh (swimming) and Kamlesh Mehta (table tennis).