'I started as a kabaddi player but that's a team sport and credit is shared. Boxing attracted me because it's an individual sport'
After the country's best-ever haul of six medals at the just-concluded London Olympics, the Government has set the goal much higher and the target for the 2020 Games is 25 medals.
The timing of a Grand Slam title victory could not have been better for Sania Mirza, who is desperately seeking a wild card entry into the London Olympics, which in all probability is her last chance to become an Olympic medal winner.
Long-serving national shooting coach Sunny Thomas has offered his resignation to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) after 19 years at the helm during which India won four Olympic medals in the sport.
Winning an Olympic medal may remain an unfulfilled dream for Sania Mirza but the Indian tennis ace is not losing sleep over it and would continue to push her battle-hardened body to win one or two Grand Slam titles before ending her career.
Having realised his dream of winning a medal at the Olympics, star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt says, he would now be able to "sleep soundly" after having "sleepless nights" since Beijing Olympics where he lost in quarter-finals in the last 10 seconds.
She is over the moon after becoming the first Indian woman boxer to clinch an Olympic medal but bronze is not the colour for M C Mary Kom, who feels she could have finished higher on the podium had it not been for the "confusion" that gripped her during her semifinal bout.
London Olympics medal prospect L Bombalya Devi of Railway Sport Promotion Board (RSPB) created three new national records while archer Tarundeep Rai set a new record in the ongoing 32nd Sahara Senior National Archery Championship at JRD Tata Sports complex in Jamshedpur on Thursday.
The United States clawed back to the top of the Olympic medal table at the London Games, waving goodbye to Michael Phelps its greatest ever medal producer, and saying hello to a brigade of young newcomers who will carry the torch onto Rio.
Australia's beat Britain 3-1 to win the men's hockey bronze on Saturday, their sixth consecutive Olympic medal, having dominated the second half against the hosts.
Her bronze medal in the London Olympics has sent India into a state of frenzy, but her shocking quarterfinal defeat in her maiden appearance at the mega event in Beijing four years ago, still rankles shuttle queen Saina Nehwal.
MC Mary Kom on Monday created history as she assured India its fourth Olympic medal after winning her quarterfinal boxing bout against Maroua Rahali of Tunisia by 15-6 margin in the women's 51 kg category.
A look at the gold medal winners on Day 10 of the London Games.
Saina Nehwal's bronze medal win at the Olympics is the happiest moment of her career. For her coach Pullela Gopichand, however, it means the world.
World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe finally accepted defeat in her battle to be fit to race at the London Olympics, withdrawing from the Games on Sunday because of injury.
Swimmer Michael Phelps won his 17th Olympic medal to take him closer to the all-time mark, but his US freestyle relay team were upstaged by France as records fell in the pool on Sunday's second day of competition at the London Games.
Leander Paes has done it all for Indian tennis in a career spanning more than two decades. He won an Olympic medal, won countless Grand Slam trophies and guided the national team to some unbelievable wins at the Davis Cup level.
India's ace long jumper Anju Bobby George says none of the athletes have come close to an Olympic medal-winning performance this year.
With a story to match each of the 61 Olympic medal winners he has treated, Irish physiotherapist Gerard Hartmann is keen to add another tale or two in London this summer.
All of 18, she is World No 1 and India's biggest hope for an Olympic medal but Deepika Kumari is far from intimidated by the burden of expectations as she feels the London Games are not some kind of a 'ghost' to be scared of.
Vikas Krishan Yadav would baulk at the idea of paying to watch someone box like himself in the ring but the chess-playing Indian remains committed to his tried and tested "boring" technique to win an Olympic medal.
Yohan Blake and not Usain Bolt may now be the man to beat in London Games but the mission remains the same with the 'The Beast' set to lead an all out assault by Jamaican sprinters on the Olympic medal podium.
To enter 30s might signal decline in many sports but for veteran luge racer Shiva Keshavan, it is the start of his peak form which, he feels, would make him the first Indian to win a Winter Olympics medal, come 2014.
Former champion Mirabai Chanu bettered her own national record but missed out on a podium, finishing a creditable fourth, in the women's 49kg event at the Weightlifting World Championships.
The postponement of the Tokyo Games was a bitter pill to swallow for Indian archer Tarundeep Rai as he will get one year older when he takes the field for his third Olympics. He has been forced to change his training due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic and the 21-day nationwide lockdown. His daily routine now is to search for videos on "how to build shoulder muscles" and train at the gym for long hours.
Caitlyn Jenner will now be legally allowed to keep her Olympic medals that she had won as Bruce Jenner before her sex change operation.
Leaking late goals has been something of an Achilles' heel for the Indian hockey team but captain Sardar Singh believes his team have addressed the issue as they head to Rio looking for the country's first Olympic medal in 36 years. Once-mighty India are the most decorated nation in the sport's Olympic history but the South Asians collected the last of their eight gold medals way back at the Moscow Games in 1980. Having failed to qualify for the Beijing Games in 2008, the team representing a nation of 1.3 billion people did recover to seal a spot at the London Games four years later only to finish last among the 12 countries taking part.
In what could be huge news for Indian tennis fans, two stalwarts of the game -- Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi -- could pair up for upcoming Rio Olympics 2016.
Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who missed out on an Olympic medal by a whisker in Rio de Janeiro recently, on Sunday showered praise on Thangavelu Mariyappan and Varun Singh Bhati for winning gold and bronze in the Paralympics. "You have achieved something what I could not. I would have loved to meet both of you in person," Dipa said in her congratulatory message.
Tata Steel plans to send woman archer Deepika Kumari and Jayanta Talukdar, the lone recurve archer qualified for the mega event, to South Korea for training ahead of the Olympics.
India's tennis icon Leander Paes on Wednesday announced that he will bring the curtains down on his illustrious career in 2020, which will be his farewell season on the pro circuit. His cupboard overflowing with hundreds of trophies, that include 18 coveted Grand Slam doubles titles, the 46-year-old has been enduring a lean patch for some time.
Gymnast Dipa Karmakar and discus thrower Vikas Gowda were the other sport spersons to receive the honour on Thursday.
'I have boxed at the amateur level for 15, 16 years and won every medal possible at the world level. I represented India in three Olympics, for 12 years, and that is not an easy thing. I am hoping to replicate my success in pro boxing.'
Given that it took Rohullah Nikpai only two years to claim a bronze medal the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the additional four may be long enough to lift him two more places on the podium.
London's Olympics offer the seemingly ageless Leander Paes the chance to outdo his father in the medals stakes and to crown his doubles tennis career.
Star Indian pugilist Vijender Singh expects boxing to get bigger in the country after the London Olympics as he feels men in the ring will deliver more than one medal in the quadrennial extravaganza this July.
Vijender Singh, whose dream of bagging back-to-back Olympic medals came crashing down on Monday, is planning to switch to the light-heavyweight category (81 kg) in a bid to win more medals.
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.
India's veteran tennis ace Leander Paes hinted at possible retirement on Monday, saying he now relies on experience to outsmart opponents and shouldn't be playing past another year.
Keen to fight an Indian, the 32-year-old two-time World Champion has agreed to switch category to clash with Goyat.
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