Leonard Barsoton of Kenya and Ethiopia-based Bahraini athlete Desi Jisa set new course records in the men's and women's elite international section en route to winning titles at the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K marathon.
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's obsessive pursuit of excellence and a new-found sprint sensation in Hima Das gave Indian athletics audacious Olympic hopes but familiar dope shame kept things in perspective in an eventful 2018.
Legal tangles might have caused some delay but more than half of the construction work at the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) village in New Delhi is over and the facility would be ready in March next year, the Sports Ministry said on Tuesday. The Minister also assured that the Games' venues would be world class.
Now, boxer Gaurav Bidhuri cries foul at exclusion from Olympic qualifiers' trial.
Competing in her third successive Olympics, two-time world No. 1 Deepika has seen it all, from the lows of London to hitting rock-bottom at Rio 2016.
After losing seven successive finals, PV Sindhu finally redeemed herself with the gold medal at the World Tour Finals.
Five-time world champion Mary Kom, returning to the ring after recovering from some niggles that kept her out of the Asian Games, prevailed 5-0 against Kazakhstan's Aigerim Kassanayeva to pick up India's lone senior category gold at the event on Saturday.
Antonio Watson won a thrilling World Championship 400 metres gold on Thursday.
Mirabai made a strong comeback from a lower back injury that had kept her out of action for nearly nine months post the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Nikhat Zareen (52kg), Manisha (57kg) and Parveen (63kg) continued their stellar run at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul on Monday by advancing to the semi-finals but five other Indians bowed out after suffering quarter-final losses.
India swept the International Hockey Federation's annual awards on Wednesday, claiming all the top honours, based on a voting system which was lambasted as a "failure" by men's Olympic champions Belgium, prompting the FIH to say that it would try to figure why some associations did not cast their ballot.
India experienced mixed fortunes on the second day of the third International 'Republic of Kazakhstan President's Cup' in Almaty, on Thursday. Asian Games silver medallist Manpreet Singh (91kg) and L Devendro Singh (49kg) advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament with resounding victories, but Youth Olympics silver medallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) suffered defeats in the quarter-finals.
To avoid any controversy on the criteria for the Arjuna award, the Sports Ministry on Friday granted 90 per cent weightage to medal winners at various international championships and sports disciplines covered in the Olympics (Summer, Winter and Paralympics), Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. The guidelines, released by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, will be applicable from 2014.
With things looking bright for the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games, a song was released in New Delhi on Wednesday encouraging the youth of India to create a positive atmosphere around the Games.
The Sports Ministry decided to recognize 'Yoga' as a sports discipline and place it in the 'priority' category.
All of 18, World Youth champion Vikas Krishan (60kg) has become the youngest member of the reshuffled core group of Indian boxers for the Commonwealth Games from which nine were axed after failing to impress in the just-concluded National Championships in New Delhi.
A day before the Tokyo-bound Indian shooting contingent hits the range for its first training session in Croatia, Manu Bhaker's pistol will give way to a pen and the shooting gear to her study materials, as she logs in for her BA fourth semester exam.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (52kg) advanced to the final along with the young Ankush Dahiya (60kg) on another mixed day for Indian boxers at the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia on Saturday.
Asian Games silver-medallist V Santhosh Kumar rallied to beat Russia's Alexander Malinin and fetched India its lone gold after three others settled for bronze medals at the 21st President's Cup Boxing Tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia.
MC Mary Kom and the seasoned L Sarita Devi spearheaded India's gold rush at the second India Open boxing tournament, which concluded on Friday.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) and Youth Olympics silver medalist Shiva Thapa (56kg) entered the finals of the Winner's international boxing tournament in Belgrade, Serbia on Saturday.
Joining the party at a ceremony at its headquarters in New Delhi, Nehwal, 29, said the BJP has been doing 'a lot of good', and she would work to do her bit as its member.
Teenager Deepak Lather, on Friday, became the youngest Indian weightlifter to claim a Commonwealth Games medal, clinching a bronze in the men's 69kg category.
Philem Dipak Singh traces Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's rise to Olympic glory.
Postponement of shooting tournaments, cancellation of trials and training camps hardly matter at this point to one of India's biggest young achievers in sport, Manu Bhaker, who is hoping to see the world win the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has cast serious doubts over the Tokyo Olympic Games but the 18-year-old, a medal prospect at the quadrennial extravaganza, is currently not thinking about things that are beyond her control.
Jeswin Aldrin, who had already qualified for the championships, however missed the cut.
The 24-year-old, younger brother of Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc, achieved a personal best of 2.32m to win the high jump gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, headed by Dr MS Gill, has officially released the details of the money sanctioned by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to train coaches, athletes both in India as well as abroad and giving exposure to the athletes in various international events in order to prepare them for 19th Commonwealth Games that was held in New Delhi from October 3-14.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Tokyo-bound AFI medical commission chairman AK Mendiratta dies of COVID-19.
Former badminton World No 1 Lee Chong Wei has been nominated for Malaysia's 2014 sportsman of the year award.
Indian pistol ace Manu Bhaker says she will continue to shoot in three events, including the 25m, despite enduring a hat-trick of heartbreaks in her Olympics campaign in Tokyo.
Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister M S Gill on Wednesday said that India should not be thinking of hosting Olympics Games in the near future.
Bajrang Punia stopped using his social media handles and asked fans to keep showing him support as he gets battled ready for the Games
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Ramdev heaped praise on Sushil Kumar's CWG feat
Raising slogans, members of the BRS, Left parties and some members of the Congress walked out of Lok Sabha in protest as the prime minister was speaking.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Pistol ace Manu Bhaker has got a new electronic target installed at the makeshift shooting range at her home in Haryana in place of an archaic manual machine that was breaking down frequently and hampering her Olympics preparation. The old machine was causing her "immense irritation".
Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Jai Bhagwan thrashed Evaldas Petrauskas of Lithuania to enter the second round, on Saturday, continuing the impressive show by Indian boxers in the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
