Pop star Lady Gaga sang John Lennon's Imagine sitting at a flower-covered piano as the inaugural European Games.
The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics countdown got under way on Thursday with the lighting of the torch at the site of the ancient Olympics, with organisers hoping it will shift attention away from Brazil's political and financial turmoil.
Japan on Friday extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by about three weeks to June 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of easing less than two months before the Summer Olympics open.
The principles are a departure from Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter that stipulates "no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas".
Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said India would bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The Congress has remained ambivalent on the issue of giving tickets to tainted leaders like former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, who shared the dais with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at an event on Wednesday, and former chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi in the Lok Sabha polls.
A spectacular opening ceremony was still not able to disguise India's shortcomings in the build up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
The Olympic cauldron has been extinguished and the flame transferred to a lantern as it is relocated to a different part of the Olympic Stadium, Locog has confirmed.
Amid criticism that it failed to meet the expectations of the people, the theme song of the Commonwealth Games composed by A R Rahman has been tweaked a bit to make it peppier like the popular Bollywood number 'Chak de'.
A R Rahman's Commonwealth Games theme song has failed to impress the CWG Organising Committee's executive board member V K Malhotra, who feels the composition has 'fallen short of expectations'.
The about-face comes less than 24 hours after the IPC on Wednesday announced it would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete
In what would come as music to the ears of an embattled Organising Committee, Australia is planning to send its largest-ever delegation of over 600 athletes and officials, including Olympic and world champions, for next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Pained by reports of his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games-related scam, former Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi said he will resign as Member of Parliament in case any proof of him having taken even a single rupee surfaces.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell has rubbished CWG Organising Committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot's view that the other nations' standard of hygiene is different from that of India, saying his opinion was 'unacceptable'.
The International Olympic Committee said on Monday its executive board had recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from competing in events.
South Korean swimmer Tae Hwan Park and not Jaspal Rana won the Most Valuable Player award at the Doha Asian Games.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach will visit Japan from July 12, ahead of the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Several Australian Olympic athletes were taken for questioning by Brazilian police late on Friday for entering the basketball arena without proper accreditation to watch a semi-final game between Australia and Serbia, an Australian team official said.
Sports Minister Ajay Maken has accused former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar of playing an 'irreparable obstructionist role' in the Commonwealth Games projects resulting in cost escalation.
After a successful Commonwealth Games, India should wait for a while before taking a final call on hosting an Olympic Games, feels legendary British runner Sebastian Coe.
The Comptroller and Auditor General on Friday dragged the Prime Minister's Office in the Commonwealth Games mess by saying that Suresh Kalmadi, who is jail for alleged irregularities, was appointed as Organising Committee chief at its behest in 2004 despite "serious objections" from within government.
After having failed to stump up the cash for an event cancellation policy of Rs 713 crore (Rs 7.13 billion), the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi has decided to take a limited cover, with a total sum assured of Rs 140 crore (Rs 1.4 billion).
A total of 11 countries are boycotting the championships due to the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian boxers.
Senior officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation looking into the financial irregularities of the Commonwealth Games told rediff.com that they had enough evidence to prosecute Suresh Kalmadi, the sacked chairman of the Commonwealth Organising Committee.
The Savoy hotel in London is celebrating the Olympic Games in style -- preparing some pastries, savouries, cup cakes for an Olympic-themed charity where all the money taken after selling the items will be sent to the Paralympics Organising Committee.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has welcomed measures being taken to tackle the mosquito-borne Zika virus and believes the spread of the virus across South America will not adversely affect the Rio de Janeiro Games in August.
'I am still the boss of the Commonwealth Games', embattled Organising Committee chairmanSuresh Kalmadi insists, while making it clear that he is not a quitter and the spate of corruption allegations will not force him to step down at this stage.
Clean Sports India (CSI), a movement for corruption-free sports in the country, on Friday, expressed disappointment at Delhi court's decision to allow sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, accused in a Games-related graft case, to go to the London Olympics.
The Tower of London, used by British monarchs for over 600 years to hoard crowns and jewels, took delivery of its newest treasure on Monday when 4,700 gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals were handed over for safe-keeping.
The Tokyo Olympics next July will be a "uniquely risky" event, demanding flexibility from organisers amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly if a vaccine has not been rolled out by then, medical experts say. Japan and the International Olympic Committee made the unprecedented decision last month to delay the Games for a year, as the world battles the virus that has infected 2.3 million people and killed more than 150,000 globally. But questions persist whether the Games can go ahead 15 months from now, as a vaccine could still be at least a year away, according to the most optimistic estimates.
Triple Olympic gold medalist sprinter Usain Bolt will take part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi said in Port of Spain.
IOC president Thomas Bach said on Thursday that the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games will be held as scheduled, in an interview with Kyodo News.
Dropping shooting from the 2022 Commonwealth Games will be a huge setback for India, especially for its young shooters, says Abhinav Bindra, the country's only individual Olympic gold medallist.
How did US President Barack Obama manage to trump Mitt Romney despite his dismal record in the last four years? Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra, who at the heart of all the action in Washington, DC, listens to what the experts have to say
The organising committee of the first World Cup to be held in Africa also decided that, to make the finals as affordable as possible for home fans, the cheapest tickets for first round matches, apart from the opening game, would cost $20.
China said on Wednesday that the Olympic torch would go through the Himalayan region as planned on its way to August's Beijing Games. The crackdown on the protests in Tibet and neighbouring Chinese provinces, which may have killed dozens of people, have sparked calls for a boycott of Beijing's showcase Games.
A winter World Cup in Qatar may not require cooling systems to lower temperatures in the stadiums as proposed in the bid for a summer tournament, said an executive from the Gulf state's 2022 organising committee.
"The major issue is the athletics stadium, whether to make a new stadium or renovate the present one," the IOA president said.
In further embarrassment to Congress, the Comptroller and Auditor General is understood to have rapped the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi for irregularities in certain contracts related to the Commonwealth Games.
A Delhi court on Thursday allowed sacked Commonwealth Games OC Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and others arrested for alleged irregularities in awarding a contract to a Swiss firm to be transported to court in a separate van after they expressed fear of being attacked by other undertrials.
