Former India table tennis player Venugopal Chandrasekhar died at a private hospital in Chennai on Wednesday due to COVID-19 related complications.
Manika Batra was knocked out of the World Singles Olympic Qualification Tournament after she suffered a 1-4 defeat to Monaco's Xiaoxin Yang in the women's singles stage-I semi-final match in Doha on Monday.
The domination of home paddlers could be gauged from the fact that all finals on Monday featured only the Indians.
India's Manika Batra failed to win a medal at the World Table Tennis Championships after crashing out in the quarter-finals of the mixed and women's doubles, in Houston, on Saturday.
The frustration for aspirant Olympians has been palpable and athletes like table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran have been forced to innovate to stay sharp during the lengthy lockdowns.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) on Tuesday termed Manika Batra's decision to not take the help of national coach Soumyadeep Roy during her matches at the Tokyo Olympics as a brazen 'act of indiscipline'.
Men could extend their reign for the second successive time after annexing the title in the previous edition at Surat in 2015. The Indian men had won their first crown in Kuala Lumpur in 2004.
A summary of Indian athletes' performances on Sunday, August 7, Day 10 of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
A summary of Indian athletes' performance on Day 7 of the Games.
Here's a look at Indian athletes' performance on Monday, Day 4 of the Games.
Manika Batra's sensational run at the Commonwealth Games fetched her another medal on Sunday. Teaming up with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran she bagged the mixed doubles bronze, thereby winning a medal in every event she competed in at the Gold Coast Games .
A summary of Indian athletes' showing on the concluding day of the Commonwealth Games.
The Indian contingent was largely satisfied with the food and facilities provided at the Olympic Games Village, but a request has gone out to the Indian Embassy for 100 plus electric kettles to meet the athletes' requirement of warm water.
Bhavani, who reached Tokyo on Tuesday, wasted no time to start her training.
The designated women's coach of the Indian team, Anindita Chakraborty, was conspicuous by her absence in the knockout fixture. Instead, men's coach S Raman sat on the courtside as India women's were shocked by Malaysia in the quarter-finals.
The men's team got the better of Northern Ireland and Trinidad and Tobago thrashing them both 3-0 while the women's team defeated Sri Lanka and Wales 3-0, 3-1 respectively.
Ageing like fine wine, Sharath Kamal has set his sights on yet another shot at the Olympics, his confidence boosted by a grand showing at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
World C'ships: Sajan Prakash finishes 25th, fails to progress to final
D Vishwa was part of the Tamizhaga Table Tennis Association (TTTA) State men's team who were on their way to take part in the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State table tennis championships to be held in Meghalaya, Shillong.
Indian athletes' performance on Day 9 of the Commonwealth Games.
Manika Batra and Mouma Das fought hard before going down against defending champions Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu to settle for a silver medal in the women's doubles, a first ever for India in the Commonwealth Games.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) will make a fresh attempt to organise a training camp at the end of June but top players including Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan are not ready to travel anytime soon as the situation remains "unsafe".
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on sports calendars across the globe, resulting in cancellation and postponement of events, but it has also provided sportspersons a rather unexpected break. Indian sportspersons including some chess players plan to use the time to train and also be with their families.
Avinash Sable's national mark headlines strong showing in IGP 2
Sharath along with G Sathiyan has been handed a tough draw in the men's singles competition.
Sharath Kamal struggled in the first game but pulled himself up just in time to beat Portugal's Tiago Polonia 2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 in 49 minutes.
Manika Batra's sensational run at the Commonwealth Games culminated with a fourth medal in as many events while India emerged as the best table tennis nation with a record eight medals including three gold medals.
Indian athletes, including the boxers and shooters, hit the ground running as they started their pre-Olympic training, hoping to live up to massive expectations in the pandemic-hit Games in Tokyo.
Six-time world champion boxer M C Mary Kom, on Monday, said she will donate her one month's salary as Rajya Sabha MP, amounting to Rs 1 lakh, to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The postponement of Tokyo Olympics to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic has given India's table tennis squad more time to prepare and given the current scenario, the sport's governing body TTFI is looking to fill the head coach's position locally rather than hiring a foreign coach. The head coach position has been lying vacant since the 2018 Asian Games due to multiple factors.
Her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape was controversially cleared to travel with her to the Tokyo, but not allowed to stay at the Games Village with the national team.
His greatness is undisputed but probably has not been appreciated enough over the past two decades. Manika Batra had pushed the sport into spotlight with her four medal showing in Gold Coast four years ago and Sharath hopes his performances leads to millions of kids playing the game.
India have won the men's table tennis gold beating Nigeria 3-0 in the final
Deepika and Atanu form the mixed team and they kickstarted their training
Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra became the first Indian pairing to qualify for the mega event in Tokyo, beating World No. 8 duo of Sang-Su Lee and Jihee Jeon 4-2 in the final of the Asian Qualification Tournament in Doha.
India thus finished a fantastic badminton campaign with three gold, one silver and two bronze.
While Indian table tennis took giant strides in the year, a star too was born with Manika Batra pocketing as many as four medals including two historic gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The Indian men's team did almost the unthinkable by beating fancied Japan 3-1 in the quarter-finals to assure the country its first-ever medal in table tennis in the history of the Asian Games, in Jakarta, on Monday.
According to the Chief Minister, Pallikal will receive a government 'high cash incentive' of Rs 60 lakh for winning two silver medals, while Chinnappa and Ghosal will get Rs 30 lakh each for their respective single silver medals.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
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