Legendary athlete Milkha Singh lashed out at the Indian Olympics Association, holding it responsible for the poor performance of the Indian sportspersons at the ongoing Rio Olympics. Milkha, who had missed a bronze medal by a whisker in the 1960 Rome Olympics, said that the standard of performance of the Indian sportspersons has gone down as compared to earlier editions of the Games. "True, we have not being doing well (in Rio). In earlier Olympics, we have done better, winning medals, even gold, silver and bronze. The IOA will have to take responsibility for this," Milkha said.
Schedule of Indian athletes in the 20th Commonwealth Games on Monday (July 29).
Aruna Budda Reddy today created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to win an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cup as she clinched a bronze in the women's vault event in Melbourne.
Lauding PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik for winning medals at the Rio Olympic Games, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, on Sunday, said it is the beginning of a wonderful journey for the duo.
Rediff.com brings you some pictures that summarise the happenings in the sporting world in the week that was.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Milkha Singh, 92, best known as the 'Flying Sikh' and most remembered for finishing fourth in the 400m final in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, was bestowed with the lifetime achievement award.
Sports stars extended warm wishes to their fans on social media as they get wrapped in New Year spirit.
Ace tennis player Sania Mirza said India still needs to do a lot more to bring women at par with men in sports, though the country has come a long way in this aspect.
Country's largest paramilitary force CRPF has decided to appoint Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu as it's brand ambassador and bestow the honorary rank of Commandant on the ace badminton player. Official sources said the force has moved a formal proposal in this regard to the Union Home Ministry and after getting required sanctions, Sindhu will be honoured and presented the rank badges and camouflage combat fatigues of the CRPF at a ceremonial event.
In an unprecedented move, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting award, will be conferred on four athletes this year. The Sports Ministry announced on Monday that Olympic medalists P V Sindhu and Sakshi Malik will be honoured alongside trail-blazing gymnast Dipa Karmakar and ace shooter Jitu Rai.
She had planned to make a comeback at the Asian and World Championships but couldn't recover in time.
Former India coach Anil Kumble is in the running for the Coach of the Year award in the inaugural edition of the Indian Sports Honours, instituted by the RP-SG Group in association with the foundation of skipper Virat Kohli.
Hurt at missing out on Padma Bhushan award for the second year in a row, 16-time world champion cueist Pankaj Advani says he does not know what he needs to do more to receive the coveted civilian honour.
Mumbai-headquartered financial services firm Edelweiss, for close to a decade now, has been aligning its brand with sporting talent of every kind except cricket. What made the company buck the trend, and has it worked?
>There's still hope and plenty to play for, says Rediff.com's Aruneel Sadadekar.
The first Indian woman grappler to win an Olympic medal, a bronze in the 58kg freestyle at Rio, she was the obvious choice as P V Sindhu, India's only other medallist, who bagged a silver in the women's singles badminton, left for Hyderabad on Saturday.
'I never imagined that a doll would be made on me. It feels great to be recognised by Barbie,' says the World Para-badminton champion who was also honoured by Time magazine.
India's leading table tennis player Sharath Kamal, who was ignored for Padma Shri, feels the existing awards application system makes the athletes beg for the honour.
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.
Sachin: 'When Roger plays cricket, he likes to play as me'
Set to return to the international circuit at Denmark Open, India ace shuttler P V Sindhu, on Friday, said winning the silver medal at Rio Olympics has given her a lot of confidence and she would look to play without any pressure in the upcoming events.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
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.
India's greatest ever Olympian Sushil Kumar strongly feels that panels similar to one headed by Justice RM Lodha to clean up the Board of Control for Cricket in India mess, is required to bring in more accountability and transparency in functioning of National Sports Federations (NSF).
Turning 23 on the day of the preliminary round, Pranati will look to make the finals and emulate Dipa Karmakar, who won a historic bronze in Glasgow four years ago.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday, hosted the National Sports awardees, including Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu and bronze winner Sakshi Malik, at his 7 Race Course Road residence in New Delhi.
Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat are in contention for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
Thank you, Sindhu, for inspiring us with your passion.
The National Rifle Association of India on Sunday welcomed the appointment of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore as sports minister, saying the Olympics silver medallist would "add immense value to the development and growth of sports".
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
Sporting fraternity hails Sindhu's historic World C'ships gold
Cricket still leads when it comes to sponsorship, but other sports are bridging the gap at a fast clip, says Urvi Malvania.
For Keya Sarkar it HAD TO BE a Maruti because that was the only company with a service centre in Santiniketan. Until even that ceased to exist.
A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania Mirza revealed that as a child, she was once asked to stop playing as "no one would marry" her if her complexion turned "dark" due to the rigours of an outdoor sport.
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.
Rahi Sarnobat beat all expectations to become India's first woman shooter with an Asian Games gold and the low-profile wushu players delivered their best ever performance even in defeat on another high-yielding day for the country at the regional showpiece.
The NITI Aayog has big plans for Indian sport.
Sports Ministry has cleared a 804-member Indian contingent, including 572 athletes, for the Asian Games but said it will bear the expense of 755 members with 49 out of 232 officials allowed at no cost to government.
Check out the gold medallists from Day 9
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