'Khansahab, you were brilliant at what you did and that will always live.'
Mary Kom won the Padma Bhushan in 2013 and Padma Shri in 2006.
If anyone qualifies to be called a legend in Indian hockey after Dhyan Chand, it's Balbir Singh Senior, said iconic Milkha Singh condoling the death of his 'great friend'. Balbir and Milkha competed together at the highest level for the country in their respective games and even worked together for Punjab Sports department in the 1960s.
An angry India hockey captain and goalkeeper P R Sreejesh on Tuesday vented his ire on airline career Air Asia which penalised him for excess baggage which included his sports equipment after he was returning from the Asian Champions Trophy.
Saddened by the financial hardship being faced by the hockey community amid the COVID-19 pandemic, former India captain Viren Rasquinha has raised Rs 22 lakh to be distributed as one-time benefit among players, coaches and groundsmen working at the grassroots level. The fund has been raised in just one week through a joint initiative of non-profit organisations Olympic Gold Quest, of which Rasquinha is a Director and CEO, and Go Sports Foundation. They named the initiative #LetsStickTogether.
Lack of training is an obvious concern but India's hockey players are also feeling homesick and they made that known to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in an online interaction on Thursday while pleading for limited resumption of practice. The Indian men's and women's hockey teams told the minister that resumption of on-field training in small groups as soon as possible will give them an an upper-hand over other top nations as they gear up for Olympics next year.
Taking a cue from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Hockey India advertised for the position for the first time on its website http://hockeyindia.org.
Locked inside the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru due to the coronavirus forced restrictions, Indian Hockey players are utilising their free time to hone their English language skills, reading books and watching their favourite movies. The Indian men and women hockey teams are practicing at SAI centre Bengaluru where no unauthorised person can enter the campus.
With exactly a year to go for the deferred Tokyo Olympics, India hockey captains Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal are confident of a good showing at the Games.
The Sports Ministry removed the Rs 2 lakh cap on the salary given to Indian coaches for training elite athletes in a bid to encourage them to produce better results. The move is also aimed at attracting former players to become high performance trainers.
Former India hockey coach Roelant Oltmans will take charge of their arch-rivals Pakistan on a two-and-a-half year deal, the 63-year-old Dutchman announced on Wednesday.
Chuni Goswami needs insulin daily and due to the 21-day nationwide lockdown his medical supervisor is not able to attend him but his wife Basanti is 'managing' it somehow. Former India hockey captain Gurbux Singh remembers the World War II and also the partition but said he never witnessed anything like the current crisis.
'Everyone has to recalibrate their plans, preparations, peaking, meaning the tournaments they will play in in the lead-up to the Olympics.'
PHOTOS: Indian athletes gearing up for the Games
India's hockey coach Harendra Singh apologised after a 2-1 quarter-final defeat by the Netherlands ended their hopes of winning the World Cup on home soil.
The Belgians finished first in pool A and hence will be teamed against India.
'Let the Congress high command decide who will replace Captain Amarinder because they are far wiser than I am.'
Referring to the trio's fight for share in BCCI revenue for players back in 2001-02, sehwag said it went a long way in guaranteeing financial security that is enjoyed by the current crop of players.
India has always been a difficult place to work for foreign hockey coaches due to difference of opinion with national federations and bureaucratic hurdles.
Dhoni scored a brace and was fittingly awarded the 'man of the match'
Delhi Waveriders stunned defending champions Ranchi Rays 7-4 in a hard-fought battle in the 4th Coal India Hockey India League.
Rupinder Pal Singh (8th minute), Surender Kumar (15th), Mandeep Singh (44th) and Akashdeep Singh (60th) scored the goals for India.
While there has been a demand for foreign coaches in Indian hockey, Sardar admitted that communication is a problem as not every player is fluent in English.
The sporting fraternity bowed in admiration as India's pride, Sachin Tendulkar, walked into the sunset after a glorious 24-year-long international cricket career and welcomed the government's decision to confer him with the Bharat Ratna.
India's only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was named on a panel entrusted with the task of preparing the blueprint for the country's success at the next three Games, the sports ministry said on Monday.
The Virat Kohl-led Indian cricket team shared a video message from the West Indies while other top sportspersons like MC Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik, as well as Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, greeted the fellow citizens through Twitter.
Once renowned stars of their own sporting arena, former India hockey players Gagan Ajit Singh and Rajpal Singh will be in incharge of security at the PCA stadium, in Mohali, during ongoing ICC World Twenty20.
India's newly-appointed men's hockey chief coach Graham Reid took charge of the national camp in Bengaluru and asked his players to put the team first in his maiden address to them.
Rediff.com gives you a glimpse of the personalities that graced the event:
Graham Reid was part of Australia's silver medal winning team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He was also part of the Australian squad that won back-to-back Champions Trophy titles in 1984, 1985 and 1989, 1990.
The Indian men's hockey team coach Paul van Ass says he is focussing on improving the technical skills of the players ahead of the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be played at Ipoh, Malaysia from April 5-12.
- 'I hope our training on creating early pressure will be evident when we go into the competition'
The match was stopped in the fourth quarter due to heavy rains with around eight minutes left in the match.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Former India hockey captain Zafar Iqbal said the country's prominent athletes would write to the International Olympic Committee seeking its help for drawing up a blueprint for resurrecting sports in the country.
Former recipients of the Arjuna award on Tuesday lamented that its dignity has been lowered and the government is now 'throwing' the honour away.
Dabang Mumbai and Kalinga Lancers entered the finals of the fifth edition of Coal India Hockey India League by winning their respective semi-finals against Delhi Waveriders and Uttar Pradesh Wizards at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium in Chandigarh on Saturday.
India's hockey coach Michael Nobbs refused to dwell on the team's London Olympics flopshow, saying that all queries on the matter should be directed to Hockey India, not him.
India's hockey players have a role model within their ranks and should look at play-maker Sardar Singh for inspiration, says coach Michael Nobbs.
Disappointed he might be on missing out on a medal but India's hockey coach Michael Nobbs said there were several good signs for his team during the Champions Trophy in which it finished fourth after losing to Pakistan in the bronze medal playoff in Melbourne on Sunday.
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