A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
India will aim for their first podium finish in 48 years in the men's Hockey World Cup as they begin their campaign with a tricky match against Spain in Rourkela on Friday.
Mary Kom, who is an Asian Games winner and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, will start the tournament as favourite in the women's category.
Many believe the Thomas Cup victory can do for badminton what the 1983 World Cup triumph did for cricket in India.
India head coach Igor Stimac feels this may be the final season of talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri's career.
The Tokyo Olympics produced many, many, many emotional moments for the athletes and their coaches...
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was among the first to congratulate Dolgopyat praising the 24-year-old for making "blue and white history".
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
'It's good to be back. We start our season with a victory. It wasn't easy to fight against (Sulley). Will return to the gym in a week and will fight again in December or January'
India sign off Paralympics with an unparalleled 19 medals: 5 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze.
Jeremy stamps class on CWG debut, India climb to sixth in medal table
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.
A summary of the country's athletes' showing at the Tokyo Games on Friday, August 6.
Images of the Padma Shri conferred on sports stars on Thursday
Sports Minister Vijay Goel, on Saturday, met former Olympic bronze-medallist Vijender Singh to discuss the way forward for Indian boxing, which has been severely hampered by administrative wrangling in the past four years.
H S Prannoy dished out another splendid show to progress to the quarter-finals with a thrilling win over Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Carmelo Anthony came to Team USA's rescue with a record-breaking effort on Wednesday as the defending Olympic basketball champions beat Australia 98-88 in a thrilling encounter to extend their overall winning streak to 20 games.
Congratulatory messages poured in for 37-year-old Gambhir from fellow cricketers on social media.
They will be against Chinese Taipei in the final on Sunday.
'To the youth, I will say work hard. One minute of work will not get you anything. I have worked hard for the past 20 years, 2002 was the first time I won a gold medal.'
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad lost her momentum after that incident, losing 21-13, 19-21, 16-21 to eventually sign off with a bronze medal, her second in the continental individual championship.
The two-time Olympian (2012 and 2016), from Somwarpet in Coorg, was a key player in the Indian forward line for over a decade with fine performances.
Champion double-trap shooter and Asian Games gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi is the only Indian marksman to occupy the top spot in the latest ISSF world rankings.
Meanwhile, Amlan Borgohain of Assam and Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh clinched gold in the 100m events.
Narang won four gold medals at last year's Commonwealth Games. The 28-year-old rifle shooter, who was the first Indian marksman to qualify for next year's London Olympics with a bronze in the World Championships last year, was disgruntled at being "ignored" for the award last year.
The Congress demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi answer what action he took against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh when issues were allegedly flagged to him by a wrestler in 2021.
Jhilli lifted 69kg in the snatch and followed that up by 88kg in clean jerk for a total of 157kg to finish on top of the podium
India's triumphant Tokyo Olympics contingent, including history-making Javelin Throw gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra, returned to the country on Monday and was greeted by frenzy and chaos at the New Delhi airport, where supporters jostled to catch a glimpse of their sporting heroes.
Manisha had ousted Sangeeta Phogat, wife of Bajrang Punia, 7-5 in the semifinals.
The absence of double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu, London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also hurt India's prospect as the team cut a sorry figure at the team-tournament.
The Jhansi-born athlete, who was raised by a single mother -- a tailor by profession -- currently trains at the academy of Anju Bobby George in Bengaluru. She is coached by Anju's husband Bobby George.
India's sports stars including badminton P V Sindhu was conferred the Padma Bhushan -- the country's third-highest civilian award, while women's football icon Bembem Devi, archer Tarundeep Rai and women's hockey captain Rani Rampal were conferred with the Padma Shri.
Ace drag-flicker Gonzalo Peillat struck a second-half hat-trick as Germany made a sensational comeback after being two goals down to beat Australia 4-3 and enter the men's hockey World Cup final for the fifth time, in Bhubaneswar, on Friday.
In 2015 Carolina Kostner was handed a 16-month ban for allegedly assisting her former boyfriend
M C Mary Kom managed to surpass even herself, obliterating everyone and everything else along the way in a tumultuous year for the sport.
Vinesh, a world championship medallist and Olympian, also claimed that several coaches at the national camp in Lucknow have also exploited women wrestlers, adding that there are a few women at the camp who approach wresters at the behest of the WFI President.
India will be fielding three teams each in the Open and women's sections respectively.
CA Bhavani Devi, the first Indian fencer to participate at the Olympics, on Monday received her Arjuna Award from Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
PM Modi, Olympian Abhinav Bindra lead country in congratulating Mirabai Chanu on winning Olympic silver on Saturday.
The 27-year-old has also qualified for the CWG in the 49kg weight category on the basis of her Commonwealth rankings.
