Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore says people called him a 'mad' when he first started dreaming about Olympic medal.
India swept all the three medals in men's high jump T63 and men's club throw F51 events
Gagan Narang missed out on an Olympic quota by just one place as he finished sixth in the final of the men's 50-metre rifle prone while Prakash Nanjappa and Jitu Rai narrowly missed out on the final of the 10-metre air pistol at the 51st Shooting World Championships in Granada.
The IOA elections were due in December last year but could not be held due to amendments in the poll process.
A World Championships gold is the only medal missing in Neeraj Chopra's decorated cabinet and the superstar Indian javelin thrower will fancy his chances.
Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom has resigned as the national observer for Indian boxing after Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made it clear that active sportspersons will not be considered for the position.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is hopeful that Bangladesh will agree to play the first-ever Day/Night Test between the two countries, notwithstanding the neighbours' apprehension about facing the pink ball.
Indian sporting fraternity on Saturday hailed shooters Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adana's 1-2 finish at the Paralympics, terming the feat as "stuff of dreams", with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauding the duo for bringing glory to the country.
Neeraj Chopra's soaring javelin did not just earn India their first Olympic gold in athletics on Saturday, it also meant that the contingent will return from Tokyo with seven medals, their biggest Games haul ever.
India's Akhil Sheoran secured the country's fifth Paris Olympics quota in shooting after winning the bronze medal in men's rifle 3-position competition at the ISSF World Championships in Baku on Sunday.
'Today, he has lived up to everyone's expectations and made India proud'
Defence minister Rajnath Singh said Neerj Chopra's "golden victory" at the Tokyo Olympics is a historic and proud moment for the entire country, including the Indian armed forces.
Neeraj Chopra scripted history in Tokyo on Saturday, winning the men's Javelin Throw and ending India's wait for an elusive medal in athletics at the Olympics.
Indian Pro boxer Chandni goes down to Shin Bo in WBO Asia Pacific title clash.
The IOA have decided to boycott the CGF General Assembly in Rwanda, also withdrawing candidatures of two of its officials from the September elections there.
Olympic bronze medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt believes Indian coaches live in the past and lack the hunger to learn new techniques, necessitating the involvement of foreign coaches for the benefit of grapplers.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Like life, elite sports can at the same time be cruel as well demanding. Virat Kohli had faced that for the past three years when he faced the run drought.
Indians will enter the upcoming Olympics with heightened expectations
Focused on winning their first ever Olympic medal, the Indian archers will skip the much-awaited opening ceremony of the Rio Games on Friday.
Chopra expressed his disappointment a day after Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha came down heavily on the wrestlers for hitting the streets to resume their protests instead of approaching its athletes' commission to lodge their complaints against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Describing his German coach Klaus Bartonietz as the 'best' for him, Olympic gold-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Friday said he would like to continue their spectacular partnership in the 2024 Paris Games as well.
According to a source in Sports Authority of India (SAI), Rana also had to pay the price for disciplinary issues after not being present during Manu's 25m pistol final at the Munich World Cup in May this year.
Olympic medallist Vijay Kumar has missed out on a berth in his pet event - rapid fire pistol - for the upcoming Asian Games, but is still part of the 43-member squad, which will be spearheaded by shooting ace Abhinav Bindra.
The clamour may have been for Sachin Tendulkar, but the Sports Ministry has recommended hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand for the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civillian honour.
With this, India now has 12 medals and the fourth bronze at the 2020 Paralympics.
For the second successive time, the Indian shooting team returned from the Olympics empty-handed, belying a billion hopes after promising to deliver like never before.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
Borgohain (69kg) signed off with a bronze medal in the Olympic Games after a comprehensive 0-5 loss to reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli.
'The gold medal (in Tokyo) has motivated me in life to do even better. Performing well and ending up on podium will be my target in the World Championship (in July)'.
Milkha Singh, 92, best known as the 'Flying Sikh' and most remembered for finishing fourth in the 400m final in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, was bestowed with the lifetime achievement award.
President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the country in congratulating paddler Bhavinaben Patel for winning a historic silver medal, India's first, in the ongoing Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Sunday.
The nation of 1.3 billion people was glued to television sets as early as 5am, following the fortunes of Aditi Ashok, who after three days, was lying second and in line for an unprecedented medal in golf at the Olympics.
Bollywood's obsession with biopics is getting stronger with each year. The focus seems to be on Indian sportswomen.
The government has rolled out its ambitious TOP (Target Olympic Podium) Scheme, under which 2016 Olympics medal prospects will be funded for their specialised world class training and top-level competition, and offered ace discus thrower Seema Punia a budget of Rs 75 lakhs till the Rio Games next year.
PM Modi, Olympian Abhinav Bindra lead country in congratulating Mirabai Chanu on winning Olympic silver on Saturday.
With the hope that 2018 will be a prosperous and peaceful year, our favourite sports personalities took to their social media handles to wish their fans a very `Happy New Year`.
The first Indian woman grappler to win an Olympic medal, a bronze in the 58kg freestyle at Rio, she was the obvious choice as P V Sindhu, India's only other medallist, who bagged a silver in the women's singles badminton, left for Hyderabad on Saturday.
P V Sindhu is hoping to become India's first-ever woman Olympic gold medallist across all sporting disciplines when she takes on World champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the final of women's singles badminton event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Friday.
