Olympic bronze-medallist and five-time world champion M C Mary Kom on Sunday denied reports that she made disparaging remarks against fellow male boxers like Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar during a meeting of the national observers in New Delhi.
Weightlifter Sanjita Chanu expressed missed emotions after winning her second successive Commonwealth Games gold medal, in Gold Coast, on Friday.
Manika said she has been working on introducing variations in her style of play.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal finally broke her jinx at the $250,000 Indian Open Super Series badminton, storming into the quarter-finals of the women's singles with a straight-game victory over Thailand's Natcha Saengchote, in Delhi, on Thursday. The world No 8 Indian did not go beyond the second round in the last three editions of the Open and broke the hoodoo when she thrashed Natcha 21-15, 21-12 in just 35 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports complex. Parupalli Kashyap also continued his good run to reach the quarter-finals. He prevailed over his training partner, R M V Gurusaidutt, 21-15, 16-21, 21-11 in the men's singles.
Top seed Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) advanced to the quarter-finals, giving India a good start at the Asian Boxing Championships in Tashkent on Monday.
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medalist Manoj Kumar (64kg) put up a spirited show but could not match the power of fifth seed Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in his pre-quarterfinal bout to bow out of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The 29-year-old Indian went down 3-0 in the contest which was not particularly engaging in its quality of boxing but showcased Manoj's fighting spirit.
The Sports Ministry has earmarked Rs 100 crore for the funding of athletes under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for their preparations for 2020 Olympics.
Akhil Kumar made a perfect start to his professional career with a technical knock-out of Australia's Ty Gilchrist in the junior welterweight category at the 'Battleground Asia' in Mumbai on Saturday.
India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, TT player Manika Batra and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu were on Tuesday picked for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry's selection committee.
The emotional and financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic is weighing on Indian shuttler HS Prannoy's mind and he believes that the already "bleak" scenario would only get worse if things don't take a turn for the better in one and a half month's time. The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 40,000 globally, has put countries in lockdown and halted sports, including badminton, across the world. It has also triggered financial and mental woes across the world.
They showed big hearts. They were unfazed by the stature of their rivals and that's what is very important. You respect your rival but don't get intimidated by his CV, says India's High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) stormed into the quarter-finals, while the experienced Manoj Kumar (64kg) entered the last-16 stage in the International Boxing Association's World Olympic Qualification tournament after notching comprehensive victories in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Sushil Kumar fades, Bajrang Punia rises
Forced to take the legal route after being denied the honour initially, Indian boxer Manoj Kumar will be bestowed the Arjuna Award as the Sports Ministry has finally accepted his nomination.
Heavyweight boxer David Nyika did more than just win his second Commonwealth Games gold medal on Saturday. He shut the parochial Australian crowd up.
World champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu says the injury is not as bad as first thought and she would need just two weeks of training to be competition ready.
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched straight-game victories to progress to the quarter-finals, but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the US $700,000 Malaysia Open World Tour Super 750 tournament, at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, a triple European gold medallist, would like to raise the profile of female athletes and believes the best way of doing that is to have more women telling the story.
Facing a life ban threat from the Badminton Association of India (BAI), embattled shuttler Jwala Gutta vowed to continue her fight against injustice and come back stronger.
On the men's side, the fields have already been divided into two ATP 250 tournaments.
Jitu Rai shot his way to a bronze medal in the men's 10-metre air pistol event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup.
The discontent with the Indian Badminton League has almost come to an end as men's doubles specialists Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar have decided to compete in the franchise-based tournament.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign on a positive note, advancing to the second round of the women's singles competition but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth in the men's singles category of the All England championship in London.
Seasoned Indian ace Saina Nehwal and the fast-rising H S Prannoy notched up contrasting wins in the women's and men's singles competition respectively to reach the All England badminton championships' second round at Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.
India have done reasonably well in the quadrennial continental event, only twice finishing outside the top eight since hosting the first Asiad in 1951.
The IWF has admitted to mentioning two different urine sample numbers in its communication of her dope flunk earlier this year, according to a letter that the world body sent to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
Apurvi Chandela won the gold in the women's 10 metres air rifle event on the concluding day of the 58th National Shooting Championships.
Rio-bound Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will look to boost their confidence ahead of the Olympic Games when they start their title defence at the Canada Open badminton tournament, starting in Calgary on Tuesday. 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallists, Jwala and Ashwini didn't have the best results in the run up to the Rio Olympics and the duo will look to put their best foot forward when they take the court here with just a little more than a month to go for the Games.
'I want to join the association in the administration, may be as an advisor to address the plaguing issues of Indian doubles'
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) clinched a hard-fought victory but two other Indian boxers bowed out after losing in the first round at the AIBA World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Rio bronze-winner has tweaked her leg defence on the insistence of her coach Kuldeep Singh Malik, something that has already got her a gold in the Commonwealth Championships in December last year.
India's women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign with a dominating straight-game win in the opening round of the Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold in Saarbrucken, Germany.
India's Vinesh Phogat had to be contend with a silver medal in the Asian Wrestling Championship after losing 2-3 to China's a Chun Lei in the summit clash of the women's 50kg freestyle event in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
P V Sindhu stormed into the quarter-finals, while Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth also advanced to the last eight stage after posting contrasting victories in the Denmark Open Super Series Badminton Premier, in Odense.
India's Vinesh defeated Mongolian wrestler in the women's freestyle 48kg category 10-0 to win bronze at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on Saturday.
Mirabai has been subjected to an astonishing 45 dope tests in the last four years but has come out clean each time.
Jitu Rai became the first Indian shooter to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics after bagging a quota place with an impressive silver medal-finish at the 51st Shooting World Championships, in Granada.
Ace marksman Abhinav Bindra belied expectations after failing to qualify for the finals of men's 10 air rifle event in the 51st ISSF World Championships, his hopes of earning an Olympic quota in this tournament going up in smoke.