A turbulent run-up to the Rio Games behind him, Narsingh Yadav will be eyeing a fairytale climax while old warhorse Yogeshwar Dutt would look to bid adieu with a second straight medal when India begin their Olympic wrestling campaign on Monday.
A long sabbatical and a rejig in weight categories notwithstanding, Olympic heroes Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt reaffirmed their dominance on the world stage and ended a 28-year gold drought at the Asian Games in a successful 2014.
Indian origin wrestler Vinod Kumar Dahiya is all set to represent Australia at the Rio Olympics after he qualified in the 66kg weight category in the Greco-Roman event.
The last time Indian women returned without a single medal was in 2016 edition in Macon, France.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Rio Olympian Sandeep Tomar, Amit Dhankar and Satyawart Kadian have bagged gold medals in their respective men's freestyle categories at the Commonwealth Wrestling championships in Singapore.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will go ahead with the trials in the men's freestyle 74kg category despite a postponement request from the injured Sushil Kumar. Sushil, who has been struggling to revive his career, has pulled out of Friday's trials citing a hand injury and had requested trials in his category to be postponed.
India's report card on the tenth day of the 2016 Olympics.
Meet designer Nachiket Barve's Greek goddesses.
Woman steeplechaser Lalita Babar carries the fervent hopes of the sports fans to finally open India's medal tally on day 10 of the Rio Olympics on Monday.
A record contingent of 121 athletes, including 54 women, will represent India at the Rio Olympics.
With the Tokyo Olympics set to start on July 23, here is some trivia from the first two editions of the modern Olympics held in 1896 and 1900.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
India's schedule at the Asian Games: Day 4
'It's not my choice to be back home. They approved everything before I left as I filled out the forms. I received my March salary and it was only half. When I inquired, they said they are holding my pay'
Proving her mettle yet again, young Sonam Malik downed Sakshi Malik for the second time in a row, this time by pinning the Olympic medallist, to make it to the Indian team for next month's Olympic Qualifiers, in Lucknow, on Wednesday. She first got past Radhika and then caring little for reputations, Sonam beat the Asian Championship 59kg gold medallist Sarita Mor (3-1) in the semi-finals before register a victory by fall against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi in the final.
Bajrang staged a remarkable comeback to secure a 4-3 win against USA's Jordan Michael Oliver in the summit showdown of the 65kg freestyle category.
India record best-ever show at World Wrestling Championships with five medals
The Wrestling Federation of India is likely to pardon temporarily suspended Babita Kumari for forfeiting her bout in a recent qualifying event and allow her to compete at the Rio Games, as she secured an Olympic berth after her rival failed a dope test.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Yogeshwar Dutt is aiming for a yellow metal at next year's World Championships and thereby earn an automatic berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
'We have spoken to all the foreign coaches and they have assured us that they are all committed to their jobs till Tokyo Games'
The path to the Olympics is paved with potholes for many athletes but few can claim to have overcome hardship like wrestler Vinod Kumar, who was thrown from a speeding train by a rival's family in India before landing on his feet in Australia.
It was a second consecutive defeat for Vinesh against the Japanese this season after losing to the two-time world champion at the Asian Championship in China.
Star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt would seek to grab an Olympic quota place in his first opportunity when he spearheads a 17-member Indian campaign at the Asian Olympic Qualification wrestling championship, starting in Astana, Kazakhstan from Friday. It will be a tough three-day competition from March 18-20, considering that only the top two finishers in each weight category here will secure an Olympic berth for a country. This is the second qualifying event for the Rio Games. The first was held last year at the World Championship in Las Vegas, where just one Indian in Narsingh Yadav bagged a quota place for the country in Men's 74kg freestyle. With India's entry at Rio de Janeiro ensured in 74kg category, no one will be competing in this category. Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar also fights in the same weight division as Narsingh. Thus, the squad consists of five grapplers in men's freestyle, six in Greco-Roman and six in female wrestling. London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar, who pulled out of the 2015 World Championship due to an injury, has the best chance of grabbing an Olympic berth for India as well as a medal.
Indian freestyle wrestlers claim Asian team title in U-17 category
Shuttler PV Sindhu raised serious hopes of breaking India's long-awaited medal quest in the Rio Olympics by storming into the semifinals of the women's singles event with a stunning straight games win over London Games silver medallist Wang Yihan of China.
Australian wrestler Vinod Kumar failed a doping test during an Olympic qualification event in Algeria in April and is set to be dropped from the team for the Rio Games.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
India's Vinesh Phogat had to be contend with a silver medal in the Asian Wrestling Championship after losing 2-3 to China's a Chun Lei in the summit clash of the women's 50kg freestyle event in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
The World Photography Organisation has announced the overall winners of the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2022.
A recap of the performance by Indian athletes on Day 10 at the Rio Olympics on Monday
Wrestler Sandeep Tomar secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men's 57kg freestyle category with a bronze-medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic Qualifying tournament in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The ancient Jordanian city and its immense faades were lost for almost 1,000 years!
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
'The WFI has taken a decision in principle to let these wrestlers prepare on their own and not disturb them. On their requests, we have decided to let them skip the trials as they are best bets in their weight categories and hardly face any competition'
Sania ousted from Qatar Total Open.
