'Historically, there hasn't been much representation around para-athletes from a brand perspective.' 'With their best medal tally in Paris, it has triggered considerable organic interest.'
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
Batting legend Rahul Dravid has termed his current stint as coach of India Under-19 and India 'A' cricket teams, as well as his mentorship of young athletes in Olympic sports as "exciting" and "fun".
In the absence of Paralympic gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia, Sundar, who had been disqualified from his event in Rio 2016 due to technical reasons, found redemption and took home the gold medal and the tag of world champion with a personal best throw of 60.36m.
Indian para athlete and Arjuna Awardee Amit Kumar Saroha from Haryana won the gold medal in men's club throw (F-51) at the recently concluded 2016 French Open Athletics Championship in Paris. The event was held on May 23 and 24. Amit's effort of 26.58m broke the Asian record which he had himself set at last year's World Championships in Doha on way to winning a silver. Amit has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics scheduled to be held this September, and the 2016 French Open Athletics Championship was part of his preparation for Rio 2016, for which he is one of India's biggest medal prospects.
Sharad Kumar has been training in Ukraine since 2017 in his bid to win a medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, postponed to next year due to the pandemic.
Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid announced his association with GoSports Foundation, on Monday, with an aim to contribute towards the development and mentorship of Indian junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
India's leading fencer C A Bhavani Devi has found a rather interesting way to train amid the ongoing lockdown by s using her kitbag as target practice to be battle ready. The 26-year old trailblazer has given fencing an identity in India and has won laurels at the international level through her hard work and determination.
'Instead of making this a four-year phenomenon, when you look at us and get thrilled, do it more regularly.'
The 26-year-old artistic gymnast was included in India's CWG squad after he filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court when his name was initially omitted owing to a tussle between the Gymnastics federation and the Indian Olympic Association.
Legendary Prakash Padukone was revered as the world number one player during his hey days before the modern day computerised ranking system was introduced.
Uncertainty is so intrinsic to sports that elite athletes will not have much trouble coping up with a pandemic-forced lockdown, believe India's top sports psychologists as they become a part of their journey into an unchartered territory. Rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, which has impacted minds as much as health and productivity, sports pyshologists Dr Chaitanya Sridhar, Nanaki J Chadha, and Keerthana Swaminathan are dealing with athletes across disciplines and economic spectrum, being their "sounding board, friend" and enabling them to process the magnitude of the situation.
Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar's coach Bisweshwar Nandi has dismissed the notion that it would have been better had the medalists and other top performers at the Rio Games been given financial before their sojourn to Brazil.
Four Indian Paralympics medal winners at the Rio Games last month -- Devendra Jhajharia, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Deepa Malik and Varun Singh Bhati -- were on Monday felicitated by a host of personalities, including cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
When Dipa Karmakar launches into her soaring vault at the world championships, chances are that none of her rivals will be aware that the foundations of the skill were built on makeshift apparatus made by stacking several crash mats on top of each other.
'I have grown up in an environment where the dominant narrative of Indian sporting achievement was -- We can't.' 'These achievers have fought hard, built on each other's body of work and knowledge, and have today changed the script to -- We can,' notes Rahul Dravid,cricketing legend.