Widely expected to clinch one last medal for India at the Rio Games, London Olympics bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt is trying hard not to let the Narsingh Yadav episode affect him ahead of the men's 65kg freestyle event on Sunday. A day after an unassuming Sakshi Malik became the heartthrob of the nation by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal when she opened India's tally with a bronze, doping cloud began to haunt the grapplers again as Narsingh was slapped with a four-year ban for testing positive for banned substance.
Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes has described Australia's Olympic committee as a "source of aggressions" against Brazil after it banned the team's athletes from visiting the city's favelas during the Games in August. Australia's team chef de mission Kitty Chiller told News Ltd media on Sunday that their Olympians would be barred from going to the urban slums, even on official tours, in accordance with advice from a security expert. "There is still much unfamiliarity about Rio and Brazil," Paes told Brazilian media. "There is a certain dramatisation. And between us, the Australian committee has been a source of aggressions to Brazil." Rio's favelas are among the most violent and crime-ridden areas of the city. Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates, a member of the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission, said in April 2014 that Rio's Games preparations were the worst he had ever seen and critically behind schedule. Coates was more generous in a January assessment, however, saying he felt "very positive" about the delivery of the Games.
Claiming to have accessed WADA's database, Fancy Bears' hack team claimed to have leaked dozens of files allegedly relating to United States athletes on the internet.
Dafne Schippers' Olympic disappointment turned into a nightmare as she took responsibility for a botched relay handover that cost her a chance for redemption at the Rio Games.
A windfall of cash rewards and incentives, amounting to at least Rs 3.5 crore, fittingly awaits Rio Olympic bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
France won its first gold medal of the Rio Games in eventing on Tuesday in a dramatic show jumping final, rising two places from the cross country phase after riders from Australia and New Zealand knocked rails down.
Salman Khan, whose appointment as IOA's goodwill ambassador in April was slammed by Olympic medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and legendary sprinter Milkha Singh, seemed to have no clue about who Dipa Karmakar was and how she fared so far at the Rio Games.
Dipa Karmakar, who became the first Indian to make the cut for the individual vault finals in her debut Olympic Games after finishing eighth in the qualifying round, will compete for a historic medal in the finals on August 14.
Beslan Mudranov won Russia's first gold medal at the Rio Games in judo and fired a warning shot that his country had plenty more to prove.
Despite not having enough evidence to prove the allegations of a sabotage, Narsingh Yadav put up a brave face sounding hopeful that the NADA panel will give a proper verdict on his doping scandal.
The flame for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will pass through a refugee camp in Athens and one refugee will be among the torch bearers, the head of the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday.
The ban on Russia's track and field athletes from the Rio Games will scare drug cheats and help cleaning up the sport, Jamaica's six-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt said.
Spearheading India's challenge at the World Championships, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu says she is in good form and vowed to better the colour of her past two bronze medals.
High-profile withdrawals of male golfers from next month's Rio Games might damage cricket's chances of becoming an Olympic sport, fears the International Cricket Council (ICC). Golf's return to Olympics for the first time since 1904 has been hit by big-name male withdrawals over health concerns triggered by the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil. The top four male golfers in the world -- Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy -- have pulled out and ICC Chief Executive Dave Richardson fears a ripple effect.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Russian tennis player Svetlana Kuznetsova blamed politics for the decision to ban her country's track and field athletes from the Rio Olympics and said it was unfair to group them all together as doping cheats.
Sindhu and compatriot Saina Nehwal have lost 22 matches between them to Tai.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Tokyo has mostly delivered on that hope, despite some early teething problems.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday.
Sonia Lather (57kg) stood just one win away from ending India's six-year-old gold medal drought at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship as she advanced to final after outpunching Kazakhstan's Aizhan Khojabekova in the last-four stage in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday. The 24-year-old Sonia, who is a 2012 Asian Championships silver-medallist, defeated Khojabekova 3-0 to set up a clash with Italian Alessia Mesiano, who got the better of Bulgaria's Denitsa Eliseeva by a similar margin. The lone Indian left in the fray, Sonia was quick off the blocks against her rather sloppy rival. Combining right hooks with power-packed jabs, Sonia threw Khojabekova off balance on more than one occasion. Khojabekova was mostly clueless when it came to defending herself and her feeble attempts at attack were blocked or evaded effortlessly by the quick-thinking Haryana girl. In the end, it was hardly a surprise that judges ruled unanimously in Sonia's favour.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu failed to overcome World No 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei and crashed out of the All England Championship.
Ace sprinter Dutee Chand said the gold was an answer to her critics, who had written her off after her admission of same-sex relationship.
'I've just done everything I wanted to do in the sport'
Andy Murray is ready for "one more big push" this week as he tries to steer defending champions Britain into the Davis Cup final.
With their eyes firmly focused on 2016 Olympics, Indian men hockey team's chief coach Roelant Oltmans feels the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will be an ideal preparation for his boys ahead of the Rio Games. The team, currently training at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru, will face New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Japan, Canada and hosts Malaysia in the 25th edition of the Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia starting April 6. With a good mix of youth and experience players up his ranks, the Dutchman feels the squad has what it takes to go all the way. Oltmans has been laying emphasis on having specialists in the team and the implementation of the same has paid rich dividends in the previous season. "We have specialists in each department now and that is helping the boys understand their role better. Hockey India League has definitely helped us tap some good talent but now it's all about showcasing their mettle in the international stage," Oltmans told reporters here.
Leander Paes is hoping that there will be not be repeat of a selection fiasco ahead of the Rio Olympics and feels he deserves to be paired with Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza for the men's and mixed doubles events.
Gurmeet Singh, on Sunday, created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to clinch a gold medal in the Asian 20km Race Walk Championships as he won the men's event with his season's best effort.
The government insisted that recognition of Yoga as a competitive sport was not on communal lines and it was actually high time that it is seen as a proper game since it is an age old practice in India.
In a massive heartbreak for India, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt slumped to a shock defeat in the men's 65kg freestyle qualification round bout against Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran of Mongolia at the Rio Olympic Games.
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has failed to get elected as one of the four athlete members of the International Olympic Committee, finishing sixth in the race to become a member of Athletics Commission of the global governing body of sport.
India's report card on the eigth day of the 2016 Olympics.
As we prepare to cruise into the New Year, Rediff.com gives you a glance back, through photos, into all the sporting moments that made the last 12 months memorable.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Sunday banned all Russians from its own Games next month because of the widespread doping culture that it says has polluted sport in the country.
Former All England champion Prakash Padukone tipped PV Sindhu to be the world number one in the near future, but Saina Nehwal's coach Vimal Kumar was of the view that both the Olympic medallists could dominate world badminton in the next 5-7 years. While Saina became the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal - a bronze - at 2012 London Olympics, Sindhu did one better by winning a historic silver at the Rio Games this year. "Definitely, Sindhu is capable of reaching the number one place," Padukone told reporters at the Olympic Gold Quest workshop for junior athletes in Bengaluru.
Russia will be represented in most sports at the Rio Olympics, with 271 of its sportsmen and women cleared to participate ahead of the opening ceremony, Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) head Alexander Zhukov has said.
Top Indian golfer SSP Chawrasia has lashed out at the Indian Olympic Association and Sports ministry for not yet receiving the full amount of promised Rs 30 lakh earmarked as preparatory money for the Rio Olympics. Both Chawrasia and fellow golfer Anirban Lahiri are yet to receive the allocated amount from the Sports ministry. A livid Chawrasia termed the shoddy treatment by IOA officials at the Rio Games as if they were "servants".
Dope-tainted Narsingh Yadav admitted that his career would be over if the four-year ban imposed on him by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) is not reviewed and said that the country should take up his case as India lost out on an Olympic medal in wrestling.
Raising doubts on the possibility of foul play in the Narsingh Yadav doping scandal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hinted the wrestler may have been 'tricked or framed', while asking the Union Sports Minister to look into the case.
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