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.
Coaches may come and go but late Nikolai Snesarev will have a special place in star steeplechaser Avinash Sable's heart for his contribution in his overall growth as an international athlete.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Caster Semenya put aside the controversy over a planned rule change in athletics regarding hyperandrogenism to win the women's 1,500 metres
A summary of sports events and persons in the news over the weekend.
Day 5 guide to the action in the Moscow World Athletics Championships.
Usain Bolt says he thinks he will need to produce a time similar to the one that earned him gold at the Rio 2016 Games to win Saturday's 100m final at the World Athletics Championships in London.
According to AFP, although Doha hosts a Diamond League meeting, athletics has no real roots in Qatar and the decision to take the World Championships to the Gulf raised eyebrows.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Sprint king Usain Bolt was named to the Jamaican Olympic team in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m races despite an injury that kept him from qualifying at trials, the Jamaican Olympic Association said on Monday.
Jessica Ennis-Hill's top Olympic coach Toni Minichiello has blasted Mo Farah for missing drugs tests prior to the 2012 London Olympics.
Kenya's marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Colombian jumper Caterine Ibarguen were honoured as IAAF athletes of the year at athletics' annual awards ceremony on Tuesday.
Hot favourite Caster Semenya qualified for the women's 800metres semi-finals at the Rio Olympics with supreme ease on Wednesday and will no doubt be braced for another wave of discussions about her gender should she go on to take the gold medal on Saturday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
He may have missed out on a gold medal by the thinnest of margins, but the ever-smiling Murali Shreeshankar, who won a historic silver medal in men's long jump at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Thursday, says this is just the beginning; he is hungry for more success.
Usain Bolt ran under 10 seconds for the first time this year as he narrowly won the 100 metres at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday.
Semenya is appealing the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) ruling that supported regulations introduced by the sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The regulations state that XY chromosome athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) can race in distances from 400m to a mile only if they take medication to reach a reduced testosterone level.
Images from the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Tuesday, Day 5.
At Birmingham, Avinash Sable became the first non-Kenyan to win a medal since 1994 at the Commonwealth Games.
In other India-related news, Manish Kaurav (KL3 men 200m) and Manjeet Singh (VL2 men 200m) made it to the finals of their respective events for the first time in the history of the tournament.
'Didn't realise was flanked by Chinese and Pakistani athletes on victory podium'
Noah Lyles always wanted to be the next great sprinter after Usain Bolt retired and the 20-year-old American took a big step toward that goal with the year's fastest 100 metres at the US Championships in Iowa on Friday.
"So it's all about how I feel after Rio, if I feel I can really put my body through one more season. If I'm going to be focused and I'm going to be determined. That will determine if I compete after Rio. So we'll see how it goes."
Neeraj Chopra has set his eyes at achieving a distance of 90m consistently to enhance his chances of winning a medal at the Olympics.
A round-up of results from the final day of the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Sunday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
US sprinter Justin Gatlin believes he is steadily catching up with Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt as the two head towards a likely showdown at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games next year.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands broke the 23-year-old women's mile world record on Friday when she clocked four minutes 12.33 seconds in a race dedicated to former American runner Gabe Grunewald, who died from cancer last month at the age of 32.
With the retirement of three-time champion Usain Bolt, the 100m will have a new gold medallist at Tokyo 2020.
Olympic 200 metres gold medallist Allyson Felix has chosen to run the 400 metres at next month's world championships, her coach told Reuters on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
The Canadian was expected to be Bolt's main rival for his 100 metres crown in the Jamaican's farewell championship but he suffered a hamstring strain in training on Monday and will miss the rest of the season.
The 32-year-old Queenslander, who won Olympic 100 metres hurdles gold at the 2012 London Games and the world title in 2011 and 2017, said she had been forced into the decision by a string of injuries.
'There was no pressure and I was taking it (Olympics) just like any other event. It was like I have played against these athletes before and there's no reason to worry. I was able to focus on my performance. That has helped me win gold.'
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.
She threw a distance of 63.72m in the women's discus throw at the National Inter-State #Athletics Championship to punch her ticket to the Games.
Qatar's Akram Afif has been named Asian Player of the Year at the Asian Football Confederation's annual awards in Hong Kong on Monday, with Saki Kumagai from Japan claiming the women's prize.
Triple jumper Arpinder Singh created history by becoming the first Indian to win a medal in the IAAF Continental Cup as he clinched a bronze but star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished sixth with a below-par show, in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Sunday.
Liu Xiang reduced his fans to tears in his home Shanghai Stadium on Sunday as China's finest athlete was given a fittingly heartfelt send-off.
American champion Tyson Gay continued his impressive buildup to next month's World championships on Thursday by winning the 100 metres at Lausanne's Athletissima Diamond League meeting in 9.79 seconds.
