'It was a tough field, and I was nervous going in.' 'But once I stepped onto the court, I focused only on giving my best.'
The Mission Olympic Cell is also considering higher incentives for retired Olympians and world-class players who want to take up coaching, in an effort to retain top talent within India.
Ambica Iyenger also finished a poor 52nd in a field of 65 swimmers.
However, his effort at the World swimming championships was not enough to earn him a berth in the Athens Olympics.
The 16-year-old Karnataka swimmer, who returned from Perth last week, set a new 200 metres individual medley mark in the National aquatic championships.
On the eve of the Commonwealth Games, India's champion swimmer Rehan Poncha tells Harish Kotian he's getting better with each swim.
India swept the men's swimming gold medals for the second day running at the SAF Games.
After beating adversity to become a champion swimmer, Rehan Poncha now wants to make it big in golf and he hopes to play amateur qualifiers from next year before turning professional.
Will continue to play for India in multi disciplinary events
India pulled out of the Women's World Team Squash Championship scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from December 15 to 20 due to "lack of preparation time" and "uncertainties" about travelling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The eight players picked for the Asian Games have been training without a full-time coach and most of them don't train regularly with Kumari and Poncha, who has been a longtime national coach.
14-year-old Anahat Singh was on Tuesday included in India's squash squad for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, starting on July 28.
The Karnataka swimmer picked his second gold at the Nat. Junior aquatic championships.
Saurav Ghosal created history on Wednesday as he won India's first-ever singles medal in squash at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The legendary PT Usha will be officially elected as the first woman president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) during the governing body's polls on Saturday, ushering in a new era in country's sports administration.
PT Usha set to get elected as IOA chief, first woman occupant of top job
Rehan Poncha helped Karnataka to retain the top position with 18 gold medals on the penultimate day of the 65th Senior National Aquatic Championship by winning his fifth gold.
Dipika Pallikal's exclusion from the Indian team for Asian Squash Championships may have kicked up a storm, but national coach Cyrus Poncha said the British Junior Open champion has only herself to blame for the omission by refusing to attend a mandatory trial camp.
The Karnataka swimmer bettered his own national record in the 200m butterfly stroke at the Jr Nat aquatics championships.
Pallikal is aiming to create more history at the two multi-sporting events.
Rehan Poncha picked his third individual gold in the National Junior aquatic championships.
Among others, Rehan Poncha, 16, disappointed with a miserable performance. He finished 50th in the 400-m freestyle event.
Squash Racquet Federation of India (SRFI) secretary Cyrus Poncha said that he does not see any tournament being conducted before September.
It turned out to be a dream tournament for India as the boys the medals, winning a gold, silver and bronze, in the U-19 category in the prestigious British Junior Open.
Karnataka swimmer Aaron Agnel D'Souza on Sunday bettered his personal national record in the 100m freestyle event in the 65th Senior National Aquatics Championships which drew to a close in Ranchi on Sunday.
Indian swimmers made a big splash at the seventh Asian age-group championships, clinching eight medals, including three gold, on the first day of the event at Jakarta.
Joshna Chinappa beat former world number one Nicol David 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in the second round of the El Gouna International squash tournament in El Gouna (Egypt) for her first ever win over the legendary Malaysian.
India were, on Friday, assured of three medals in squash competition of the 18th Asian Games with Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik advancing to the semifinals of their respective singles events in Jakarta.
Ghosal qualified in the first round when he defeated David Barnett of England 11-8, 11-8, 11-8.
He defeated Wai Hang Wong of Hong Kong 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 in Chennai on Saturday.
Rehan Poncha and Arjun Murlidharan failed to qualify for the finals in their respective categories at the Asian Games.
Indian swimmers sank three meet records on the way to winning seven of the eight gold medals on offer at the 10th South Asian Games.
The men's team set up a final with Pakistan.
None of the Indian swimmers managed to qualify for the finals of their respective events at the Asian Games.
India's world No. 21 Dipika Pallikal beat the United States' Olivia Blatchford 13-11, 11-6, 11-9 in 35 minutes to enter the women's semi-finals in the San Francisco Open squash tournament, a PSA World Tour event.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Senior players Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa lost their matches against Joey Chan and Annie Au, 1-3 and 0-3, respectively. Sunayna Kuruvilla, who is Pallikal's cousin, kept India in the hunt with a fighting win over Tze Lok Ho in the second singles.
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