India will be up against UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran in the group stages of AFC U-16 Championship as the draw for the event, which will act as a dress rehearsal for next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup, was held amid much fanfare in Panaji, Goa on Thursday. The tournament begins on September 15 and matches will be held at Fatorda and Bambolim Stadium in Goa. The final is slated to be played on October 2. The top two teams from each groups will qualify for the quarter-finals. In case India, who are in Group A, advance to the semi-finals, the winner of play-off 3 will also qualify for FIFA U-17 World Cup. Conducted by Shin Mangil, Director of Competitions, Asian Football Confederation, the ceremony was attended by Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Secretary of All India Football Federation Kushal Das and U-17 World Cup Tournament Director Javier Ceppi among others. The 16 participating teams were divided into four groups.
India, which has an Observer status for the past 10 years, will technically become the member by next year.
A grand welcome awaits Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik when she arrives home on Wednesday, with hectic preparations underway to give her a rousing reception at her village Mokhra Khas in Rohtak district. When Sakshi touches down at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi at around 3:50 a.m. tomorrow, as many as five ministers of the BJP Government in Haryana will be there to receive her.
Being attended by nearly 40 countries and leading groupings like the European Union, the annual conference of the Heart of Asia -- Istanbul Process is deliberating on various challenges facing Afghanistan, including revival of a peace process in the conflict-ridden country.
Neeraj's gold and three other athletics silver medals, along with Saina Nehwal's badminton singles bronze, propelled India's overall medal count to 41 (8 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze).
Giving final touches to its most ambitious plan to build a wide network of new silk roads on land and seas to enhance global connectivity, China has invited India to join President Xi Jinping's pet project that would revive the ancient trade route and benefit the region.
Sushma in her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting said that terrorism is an enemy of basic human rights.
Tushar Gandhi described the demand as 'destructive'and 'reprehensible'
Wrestler Sandeep Tomar secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men's 57kg freestyle category with a bronze-medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic Qualifying tournament in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
During a felicitation function of World Championships medal-winning wrestlers by Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in New Delhi on Monday, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan mooted the idea of making wrestling the national sport, which received the backing of double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
'India needs to be cautious that its differences with Pakistan do not obstruct SCO's functioning,' says Sana Hashmi.
Indian football saw a big jump in the FIFA rankings on Thursday, rising 24 places to go up to 147 spot.
Troops from 17 countries, including Pakistan and Russia, formed part of 1000 foreign soldiers who took part in China's first military parade aimed at highlighting the excesses committed by Japanese troops against Chinese in the WW II in which according Chinese historians over 20 million people were killed, eight million forced into labour and thousands of women held as sex slaves.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Chasing a third successive Asian Games medal, Indian boxer Vikas Krishan (75kg) made a strong start, out-punching Pakistan's Tanveer Ahmed in his pre-quarterfinal bout in Jakarta, on Monday.
It was a day when India counted the silvers, a total of five, even though there was no gold in the tally.
The overall tally of six gold, five silver and 14 bronze medals at the end of day six put the country in 8th spot in the table with China leading the pack by quite a distance, having already crossed the 100-mark.
India, currently ranked 132nd in the FIFA world rankings, have never played in the World Cup finals and kick off the latest phase of their attempt to qualify for the Asian Cup on Tuesday when they take on Myanmar in Yangon.
After bringing home just two medals from the Rio Olympics, India needs to be realistic in its preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Games and should narrow its focus to a handful of sports, says former All England badminton champion Prakash Padukone. P.V. Sindhu's silver medal in the badminton women's singles and a bronze from wrestler Sakshi Malik at the Rio Games was considered a sorry return for a nation of 1.3 billion people. India have won a total of 28 medals since first competing at the Olympics in 1900 but a government think tank has come up with a strategy it hopes will help the country to 50 medals in 2024, including prioritising 10 sports.
In view of the worsening situation in Yemen's capital Sana'a, India has shifted its embassy to Djibouti, adjoining the war-torn country, after the "successful" conclusion of the process to evacuate its nationals, government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The wide gap in national income held by the ultra-rich and the poor is striking.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday termed terrorism and climate change as the biggest problems faced by the world saying the solutions to these can be found in Mahatma Gandhi's life and ideals.
The regular membership of India and Pakistan, who are observers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, has been approved and they will be inducted formally next year.
The proposals of six para-athletes, who are training in India and abroad ahead of the Asian Para Games that will take place between October 6 and 13 in Jakarta, were also cleared at the meeting.
Parrying a direct reply on whether there will be a meeting between Khurshid and Aziz on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet, Spokesperson in External Affairs Ministry said the External Affairs Minister will take the opportunity to interact "informally" with several other leaders present there.
Shot putter Manpreet Kaur and long distance runner G Lakshmanan grabbed gold medals on a remarkable opening day for India at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships as the hosts won seven medals to sit atop the medal tally, in Bhubaneswar, on Thursday.
Putin said India will become a full-fledged member of the SCO in a week.
Tiny Guam beat Turkmenistan 1-0 to record their first ever World Cup qualifying victory.
India's campaign in the Asian Games gymnastics ended, on Friday, without a medal after Dipa Karmakar finished fifth in the women's balance beam event final in Jakarta.
At the summit, India signed the SCO's memorandum of obligations, kick-starting the process of its accession into the group as a full member.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
India's Yogeshwar Dutt beat Yusupov Zalimkhan of Tajikistan 1-0 to win the gold medal in the men's freestyle 65 kg wrestling event at the Asian Games in Incheon.
The Rio Olympics bronze medalist shared the stage with Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha during the Whisper 'Like a Girl' campaign. When asked about the recent trend of making biopics on sportsmen, Sonakshi said that she will be thrilled to star as Sakshi if at all a movie was made based on the wrestler's life.
'People taunted me, saying 'You are a woman, why are you wrestling?'
Brimming with pride at their daughter's historic achievement at the Rio Olympics, female wrestler Sakshi Malik's parents, on Thursday, urged all fathers to encourage their daughters, who wants to take up sports, saying the grappler's feat should set an example for all and sundry.
India and Tajikistan on Monday pledged to further deepen their cooperation to fight terror and agreed to step up defence ties besides boosting trade and investment.
Aziz also attended a dinner where he exchanged pleasantries with PM Modi.
Identifying terror emanating from Pakistan as the "greatest threat" to regional peace and stability, India and Afghanistan have said that setting up an effective counter-terror framework to deal with the challenge will be a major focus at the two-day Heart of Asia conference beginning Saturday.
