Germany's Lukas Podolski capped his international swansong with a sensational goal to give the world champions a 1-0 victory over England in a friendly on Wednesday.
IAAF President Sebastian Coe gave a ringing endorsement to the Olympic athletics programme on Saturday, acclaiming a "remarkable week" that showed athletics is "alive and incredibly strong".
Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi won the Olympic pole vault on Friday and her country's first athletics gold since the 2004 Athens Games.
The 20-year-old Indian, who was competing in the season's Diamond League Series Finale just three days after winning Asian Games gold in Jakarta, sent the spear to a best distance of 85.73m to end at fourth position in the eight-man event.
India's K T Irfan finished fifth, while Ganapathi Krishnan was disqualified from the men's 20km race walk of the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on Sunday.
JP Duminy smashed a South African record score of 96 not out to lead the home side to an eight-run victory over Zimbabwe in a Twenty20 International on Sunday. South Africa, who clinched the series 2-0, piled up 194 for six and Zimbabwe made a spirited reply with a national record total of 186 for seven.
Triple jumper and national record holder Renjith Maheswary led the Indian gold medal charge as the home athletes faced little challenge from their opponents on the concluding day of the Asian All-Star Athletics Meet, which was skipped by top continental athletes, in Delhi on Friday.
Mohd Abdul Najeeb Qureshi on Wednesday equalled the national 100m record while qualifying for the semi-finals on the opening day of the track and field events which saw all the Indians, except two, making it to the next round in the Commonwealth Games.
Rising Indian middle distance runner Tintu Luka shattered the 15-year-old women's 800m national record as she clocked 1:59.17 to finish a creditable fifth in the VTB Bank Continental Cup in Split, Croatia.
American Ashton Eaton retained the decathlon world title on Saturday and broke his own world record with a score of 9,045 points.
Dope-tainted Manipuri lifter L Monika Devi and Sarabjit Singh, who broke his own national record in the over 105kg category, will spearhead Indian challenge at the Commonwealth Games from October 3-14.
She is frustrated with the lack of exposure for Tintu Luka, but sprint legend P T Usha said she is still optimistic of her protege's chances at this year's Olympic Games.
Mariya Kuchina won thewomen's high jump with a clearance of 2.01 metres on Saturday to become Russia's second gold medallist at this world championships. The 22-year-old from Moscow had a blemish-free card to that height, her lifetime best performance.
Her protege Tintu Luka has already broken the two-minute barrier in 800m and legendary P T Usha feels the best is yet to come for the 21-year-old who can be a bet for an Olympic medal that eluded the former track-queen in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The 53rd National Open Athletics Championships ended in Ranchi, on Tuesday in utter chaos with the closing ceremony, attended by state sports minister, being held in complete darkness for the entire period after a power blackout.
Caster Semenya put aside the controversy over a planned rule change in athletics regarding hyperandrogenism to win the women's 1,500 metres
India continued its fine run at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships, winning four gold medals so far on a rain-hit second day of the competition in Bhubaneswar.
'To win a medal at the Olympics you need 12 to 15 Virdhawals and Sejwals.' 'We lack a swimming culture.' 'Countries like the US, Australia, France and China are powerhouses, with access to the best facilities.'
Railways top athlete Joseph Abraham continued his good run in the domestic season and bagged the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the 49th Open National Athletics Championships in Bhopal.
Railways top athlete Joseph Abraham continued his good run in the domestic season and bagged the gold medal in the 400m hurdles event at the 49th Open National Athletics Championships in Bhopal.
Left to compete within an hour of reaching here from China, promising sprinter Dutee Chand won the gold in women's 100m sprint event in the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships on Thursday. Dutee competed in the 100m heats within an hour of reaching Taiwan from Beijing and five hours later ran the finals which she won in 11.50secs to bag the gold. Her timing was far below the Olympics qualification standard of 11.32 secs. Long jumper Ankit Sharma leapt 7.67m on his last attempt to also seal a gold medal. Dutee was part of the national record breaking women's 4x100m relay quartet which finished fourth in the IAAF World Challenge event in Beijing yesterday and she few from the Chinese capital to Taiwan where she reached two hours before the start of her event.
Shot putter Om Prakash Karhana and long jumper Mayookha JohnnyMayookha Johnny won a bronze each as India began their campaign at the 20th Asian Athletics Championships on a mixed note on a rain-marred opening day in Pune on Wednesday.
The world braced up to a post-Bolt era but for India there was no momentous change as the country's athletes did nothing for the global audience to take note of.
2014 Asian Games bronze medalist and national record holder Sudha Singh wants to make amends for a disappointing outing at the London Olympics.
Meet first-time Indian athletes hoping to make an impression in Rio.
A day after winning the gold in the 50 metre freestyle category, India's Virdhawal Khade on Monday swam to a silver medal in the 50m butterfly event at the International Schwimmfest in Darmstadt, Germany.
India's 572 athletes hope to return home with an overflowing treasure chest of medals.
Four 20km race walkers -- two men and two women -- have already been named from the separate national championships held in New Delhi in February.
Olympian Virdhawal Khade on Saturday won a bronze in men's 50m freestyle to end his Asian Swimming Championships campaign in China with four medals.
Asian Games gold medallist Sudha Singh failed to qualify for the women's 3000m steeplechase final round as she finished a disappointing 12th in the heats in the 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow on Saturday.
Contradicting marathon runner OP Jaisha's claim of official apathy in the Rio Olympics, co-runner Kavita Raut on Tuesday said that the Athletics Federation of Indian (AFI) had provided her with an option of having energy drinks during the race and, therefore, she has no complaints against the apex body.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 1:
World number 15 Zheng Jie became the highest ranked Chinese player of all time this week but hopes it is just the start of an even more successful phase of her career. The 25-year-old, a surprise semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, surpassed the national record of Li Na -- world number 16 in January 2007 -- when the women's world rankings were released on Monday.
LaShawn Merritt ran a blistering anchor leg to return the men's 4x400m title to the United States, and win his third Olympic gold medal, in the final athletics event of the Rio Games on Saturday.
Sakshi Malik ended India's frustrating medal drought with a dramatic bronze-winning effort on Day 12 of the Rio Olympic Games on Wednesday.
The youngest athlete at Rio 2016, swimmer Gaurika Singh, has only just become a teenager. However, she is a 13-year-old with some decidedly serious life experiences. Singh, who lives in London and will represent Nepal at the Olympic Games, was in Kathmandu for the national championships in April last year when a massive earthquake hit the region, killing an estimated 9,000 people as hundreds of buildings crashed to the ground.
Usain Bolt's 200 metres triumph at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing came at a price. The Jamaican took a tumble in bizarre accident, after he was knocked over by a photographer on Segway scooter.
Vikram Bhatnagar gave a dazzling display of marksmanship to emerge winner in the Double Trap event in the National Shooting championship, at the Jagatpura range, in Jaipur on Thursday. The day also belonged to young Ajay Mittal, who won the junior event with a new national record of 138, while Army girl Varsha Tomar pocketed the women's title.
Neeraj Chopra scripted history by smashing the junior world record in javelin throw en route to a gold medal with a stunning effort of 86.48m at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
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