Check out India's report card on the fifth day of the 2016 Olympics.
There was some cheer for India after two barren days as the duo of Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu triumphed in the 10 metre mixed team air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup.
Rio Paralympcs silver medallist remains upset over being ignored for Khel Ratna this year and feels exception should have been made by the awards committee, like it had done in 2016.
'This is another opportunity to do that, improve my medal and performance. I have got two team bronze in the Asian Games, and hopefully, I will improve my performance and maybe even get the gold'
Shooter Heena Sidhu, from whom a lot was expected in the run-up to the ongoing Olympic Games, put up yet another flop show to finish a distant 20th in the 25m pistol event for women in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. In the 30-shot precision round, Heena accumulated 286 points out of a possible 300 with series scores of 95, 95 and 96 that pushed her in the rear of the queue.
Ace shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched the silver medal in the men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Ajerbaijan, on Tuesday. The Indian marksman scored 456.9 to win the silver medal in the last World Cup before the Rio Olympic Games.
Sania Mirza's was officially named for the coveted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Friday. The Hyderabadi lady is only the second tennis player to be nominated for the country's highest sport honour.
Meet first-time Indian athletes hoping to make an impression in Rio.
Swift intervention by Ministry of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj ensured shooting ace Abhinav Bindra was accompanied by his coach, whose passport got stolen in Germany while the duo were travelling to Rio de Janeiro for the ISSF World Cup, a test event for the upcoming Olympics.
India's Prakash Nanjappa has earned a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics after finishing eighth in the finals of 50-metre men's pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Two-time Olympic champion Vincent Hancock of the USA won the men's skeet competition, the concluding event of the year's first International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup.
The Meerut-based Rizvi shot a world record 242.3 in the 10m air pistol event's final to beat reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany (239.7) to win the top prize.
Beijing Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra fired India to the men's team bronze in the 10m air rifle event while booking his berth in the eight-man finals with the fifth-best score in the qualifications on Day 4 of the Asian Games in Incheon on Tuesday.
World cup gold medallist Heena Sidhu was in third position in the precision round of 25 meter women pistol event, which was topped by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anisa Sayyed at the 57th National Shooting Championship in New Delhi on Monday.
India earned their second gold medal at the 17th Asian Games after the men's compound archery team bagged the yellow metal by getting the better of South Korea, in Incheon on Saturday.
India's shooters failed to impress on the third day of competitions in the 51st Shooting World Championship as trap ace Manavjit Singh Sandhu missed out on a final berth by a whisker while Rahi Sarnabot and Anisa Sayyed disappointed in women's 25 metres pistol, in Granada.
Lakshaya and Kismat Chopra along with Manavaditya Singh Rathore on Thursday bagged the team bronze in the Men's Trap event as India ended their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup with a total of 24 medals to grab the second place in the overall standings. India finished with a total of nine gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals as the year's second and final Junior World Cup concluded in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
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.
Gagan Narang missed out on an Olympic quota by just one place as he finished sixth in the final of the men's 50-metre rifle prone while Prakash Nanjappa and Jitu Rai narrowly missed out on the final of the 10-metre air pistol at the 51st Shooting World Championships in Granada.
Rahi Sarnobat, on Wednesday, became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Asian Games gold medal as she triumphed after prevailing in a double shoot-off in the 25m pistol event in Palembang.
Saurbah Chaudhary would dream of excelling in the Olympic sport one day.
Optimistically preparing to shoot at the Games, air pistol exponent Verma, 29, is a late bloomer.
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.
Women archers were on target in the individual events, while Manoj Kumar scripted a triumph of the underdog in the boxing ring on the fifth day of the Rio Games.
Bhaker beat a two-time World Cup Finals winner and the host country's Alejandra Zavala, with a 10.8 in the last shot of the 24 shot final, to come out on top with a score of 237.5.
Gagan Narang has been dubbed the 'powerhouse' of Indian shooting by the Nation Rifle Association of India.
The 23-year-old, a bronze-winner in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast earlier this year, shot a score of 564 to finish on top.
Indian pistol shooters, on Wednesday, pulled off a clean sweep in the 10m air pistol event at the Commonwealth Shooting Championship with Shahzar Rizvi, Omkar Singh and Jitu Rai winning gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
The world's two largest economies, the United States and China, will again win most gold medals at the Olympics and Britain will push Russia into third place in the overall standings, Goldman Sachs predicted in a survey released on Monday.
>There's still hope and plenty to play for, says Rediff.com's Aruneel Sadadekar.
A star-studded Indian shooting contingent will begin their Rio Olympics campaign on Saturday with in-form Jitu Rai hoping to launch the country's medal haul in an event which will also see his more illustrious senior colleague Abhinav Bindra aiming to end his glorious career on a high.
India's Pooja Ghatkar continued her good run, registering her second 4th place finish of the year in a World Cup stage on day three of the sixth and final International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) at Baku, Azerbaijan on Friday.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Indian shooter Manavjit Sandhu rallied to third place after the second day of qualification in the Men's Trap Shooting event at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup being held at Rio di Janerio's Olympic Shooting Centre.
He joins pistol shooter Jitu Rai, rifle shooters Apurvi Chandela and Gagan Narang, who all had sealed berths earlier.
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.
Shooter Shreyasi Singh entered the 2010 Commonwealth Games shattered and with grief, gloom for company following the sudden demise of her father.
Heena Sidhu clinched the 10m air pistol gold medal to give India a perfect start at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.