After days of speculation on her fitness, former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Geeta Phogat was on Monday declared fit to take part in the Pro Wrestling League.
A resolute Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg) advanced to the finals with impressive victories but the legendary M C Mary Kom (51kg) and world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) settled for bronze medals at the Asian/Oceanian Olympic Qualifiers, in Amman, on Tuesday. Also ending with bronze medals were Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg). All the six boxers have already secured their tickets to the Olympic Games by making the semi-finals but Krishan and Kaur will come back with at least silver medals after entering the finals.
World Champion Mirabai Chanu's participation at the Asian Games appears doubtful
Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi urged the government to reinstate hockey and football in the priority list after the recent success of the two teams in international tournaments.
Bajrang Punia's bid to become only the second Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championship fell flat, as a tactically superior Takuto Otoguro stunned the Indian in the 65kg final, in Budapest, on Monday.
Vinesh wins bronze, Pooja in line for second medal
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign on a positive note, advancing to the second round of the women's singles competition but it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth in the men's singles category of the All England championship in London.
'It is important to keep new tricks in your bag to win at the biggest event of world sports.'
Asian champion Pooja Rani (75kg) and the seasoned Vikas Krishan (69kg) became the first set of Indian boxers to qualify for this year's Tokyo Olympics by advancing to the semi-finals of the continental qualifiers, in Amma, on Sunday. While fourth-seeded Rani notched up a facile 5-0 win over Thailand's Pornnipa Chutee, Krishan endured a tough one against third-seeded Japanese Sewonrets Okazawa before also prevailing in a unanimous verdict against the Asian silver-medallist.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar and three of his compatriots entered the semi-finals of the Asian Boxing Championships at Ulan Bator in Mongolia on Wednesday.
Indians continued their strong show at the fifth Commonwealth Youth Games, winning five medals, including two gold, on the second day of competition in Apia, Samoa, on Tuesday. Weightlifter Deepak Lather (boys' 62kg category) and javelin thrower Mohd Hadish won a gold each in their respective events, while Jisna Mathew won a silver in the girls' 400 metres.
'You could have an additional pool of 15,000-odd qualified and competent doctors.'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Men joined the gold quest through Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) as the team rejoiced its best ever medal haul at the mega-event on Saturday.
Asian Games medallists Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) were among the five Indian boxers who entered the finals, on Friday, while three others settled for bronze medals in what is turning out to be India's best ever performance inside the ring at the Commonwealth Games.
An obsession with being 'neat, tidy and stylish' almost led her to archery, says world champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who feels a chance meeting with her eventual coach changed her career plans.
Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman para-athlete and the oldest to be conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
Wrestlers Ravinder Khatri and Babita Kumari have secured spots at the upcoming Rio Olympics after their rivals failed a dope test, taking the total number of quota places from India to eight. Khatri was awarded the berth in the Greco-Roman 85 kg after Kenzheev Zhanarbek of Kyrgystan tested positive at the Asian Olympic qualifier. Babita gets a shot at competing in Rio with Mongolian wrestler Sumiya Erdenechimeg failing the dope test in 53 kg freestyle, also at the Asian qualifier. Last week, Vinesh Phogat clinched a gold as she and Sakshi Malik secured Rio berths in 48 and 58kg respectively at the second World Olympic Qualifying tournament in a historic feat of two Indian women wrestlers qualifying for Olympics for the first time.
After failing to qualify for the Commonwealth Games, India's boxing ace M C Mary Kom bounced back in style, beating Pinki Jangra in the selection trials in Patiala, on Wednesday, to qualify for the Asian Games.
India's Deepa Malik created history by becoming the first-ever woman from the country to win a medal at the Paralympics when she bagged a silver in the shotput F-53 event in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is among the 20 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna Awards, who will be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar romped into the into the second round of the boxing events of the Asian Games.
Boxer Vikas Krishan prefers US Pro bouts to National camp in Patiala
In the medal standings, India were placed eighth with a compilation of seven gold, five silver and 17 bronze.
Nikhat from Telengana was handed the fourth spot in the 51 kg category which already has the six-time World Champion MC Mary Kom, RSPB's Jyoti Gulia and Haryana's Ritu Grewal as other contenders.
Former Indian wrestling coach P R Sondhi has conveyed his 'displeasure' to film star Aamir Khan for allegedly demeaning the character of wrestling coach in the recently-released Bollywood movie Dangal.
Where stalwarts like MC Mary Kom failed, Sonia Lather brought home a medal.
'I am only saying that whoever between me and Narsingh is better, should represent the country at the Olympics' 'Trails took place in the past, before the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Last time, there was no competition, thus the trails did not take place. There was no one to challenge me in my weight category last time. But this time, the situation is different'
Indian shooter Manu Bhaker won gold in women's 10m Air Pistol in Youth Olympics on Tuesday.
Nine Indians, including National Champion A L Lakra have made it to the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Boxing championship at Glasgow, Scotland.
The Indian claimed Bantamweight gold by beating Louis Richard Bruno Julie of Mauritius
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
The 19-year-old gave India its second gold medal in weightlifting by winning the 58 kg category.
Manchester Games silver medallist Som Bahadur Pun fell by the wayside as Vijender and Harpreet Singh recorded resounding victories.
Sameer Verma stayed on course for his title defence while three-time former champion Saina Nehwal too reached the semifinals with an easy win
This year's Padma awards took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on Monday. Mohanlal Viswanathan, Prabhu Deva and Shankar Mahadevan have been conferred with honours. Take a look.
Geeta Phogat might be feeling the pressure of making a comeback at the upcoming Pro Wrestling League after a long injury lay-off but the celebrated grappler said it is nothing compared to the "tough training" she and her siblings went through during their formative days. Inspired by the story of Phogat sisters -- Geeta and Babita -- and their hard taskmaster father Mahavir Singh, Aamir Khan-starrer 'Dangal' has set the cash registers ringing at the the box office.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
The 16-year-old claimed the top honours in the men's 10m air pistol event at the season-opening ISSF World Cup.
After nine rounds in the Corus chess tournament, the Indian ace is in third place.
