What happens when sports stars have all the free time at hand and no play?
Thursday was a landmark day for Chennaiyin FC. The Hero Indian Super League franchise launched their home jersey and also announced prominent real estate developers Ozone Group as their principal sponsor.
Chennaiyin FC marquee player Elano Blumer and John Mendoza fired two goals each to steamroll a hapless Mumbai FC 5-1 and bounce back from their previous match defeat in the Hero Indian Super League on Tuesday.
FC Goa on became the first team from the country to secure a berth in the group stage of the AFC Champions League, the continent's top-tier club competition, after beating Jamshedpur FC 5-0 in an Indian Super League match, in Jamshedpur, on Wednesday.
Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha had another heated confrontation with the body's Executive Council on Thursday after a majority of its members reiterated their opposition to Raghuram Iyer's appointment as CEO but the embattled track-and-field great refused to back down and rejected their demand for his removal.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
India's first Winter Olympian, Shiva Keshavan, on Monday urged the authorities to come forward and help the athletes who are left to battle all odds in their quest to bring laurels to the country. Taking part in a panel discussion under the banner 'International Convention on Business of Sports', organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here, the youngest ever athlete to officially qualify for the Olympic Games in luge said, "We sportsmen are always very altruistic. We focus so much on doing well in our respective disciplines that nothing else matters to us. But, the government should come forward and help us nonetheless." The 34-year-old athlete from Manali took part as an independent participant in 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics due to the suspension of Indian Olympic Association (IOA). However, as the ban was lifted while the Games were still on, he ended up competing under the Indian flag. "I have taken part in five Winter Olympics without a coach. I always wanted to be trained under a good coach. But later, I realised that I wasted a lot of time chasing a lot of things," said Keshavan who finally found a coach in American Duncan Kennedy but had to part ways after a short stint due to financial constraints. "The government was only paying for a part of his (Kennedy's) salary," he said.
Wen Johnson (24) had intruded into the pitch at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium just before the drinks break in the final at around 3pm, but was immediately apprehended by security personnel as he approached batter Virat Kohli.
The AIFF executive committee also accepted the recommendation to discontinue their development side, Indian Arrows, and instead create an elite youth league using the fund.
A Singapore court jailed a Lebanese referee for six months on Tuesday for accepting sexual favours to fix a soccer game, a day after two fellow countrymen were jailed for the same offence amid an international investigation into soccer corruption.
The meeting between officials of All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner IMG-Reliance to discuss the final plans relating to the ambitious IPL-style football tournament scheduled on Tuesday has been postponed to later this week.
The All India Football Federation said on Sunday that the unsanctioned Premier Futsal, scheduled to begin on July 15, will create unnecessary issues and also expressed serious doubts about the survival of the tournament.
AIFF to probe Jamshedpur FC player's age discrepancy issue
Four days after creating a flutter with a stunning 4-1 drubbing of Thailand, India are now looking an upbeat lot in the continental showpiece.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Women's Asian Cup was thrown into turmoil when hosts India were kicked out of the tournament after a COVID-19 outbreak meant they were unable to field a team for their Group A match against Taiwan on Sunday.
The legendary PT Usha will be officially elected as the first woman president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) during the governing body's polls on Saturday, ushering in a new era in country's sports administration.
The marquee tournament starts October 6, and the Manipuri boy is excited to be a part of India's first-ever World Cup team.
New Zealand are placed in Group B along with Turkey, Paraguay and Mali.
'There have been and will continue to be, so many captivating stories in colonial India.' 'Obviously, most of the white people were British, so if I am going to take on a role in a film set in one of the most turbulent periods of Indian history, then it only stands to reason that my character would be of British descent.' 'But that doesn't mean all my roles are negative.'
According to the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear on Tuesday.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are not in favour of more Indians choosing doubles over singles.
After spending two seasons with the team as player, Australia's two-time World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting will take over as head coach of Mumbai Indians for the eighth season of the Indian Premier League. He will replace John Wright, who was the team's coach for Season 6 and 7.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Indian fans wait for Messi's '2011 Tendulkar moment'
The five-member Regulatory Commission of the Indian Super League met in Mumbai over the three days, in continuation of its earlier sittings since February 2016, to hear the submissions of the respective parties in the matter of Football Sports Development Limited vs FC Goa; FC Goa vs Chennaiyin FC; FC Goa vs Elano Blumer and Chennaiyin FC vs FC Goa.
The Indian Super League may be held either in Goa or Kerala while Kolkata is set to host all the I-League matches with likely kick-off in November, as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) seeks to stage both the competitions in a single city in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Constantine interviewed by Chennaiyin FC
Asian Games gold medal-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Tuesday donated a total of Rs 3 lakh to the central and Haryana state relief funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic in India. Chopra is currently in self-isolation at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala after flying back from a training trip in Turkey.
A definitive guide to the movers and shakers who sit at the helm of the Asian sports boom.
It's a historical tie, we will benefit from India team's visit: Pakistan tennis fraternity
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.
Led by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, India will seek to showcase its ascendency as a sporting power at the Asian Games, which opens formally on Saturday after an unprecedented one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi hopes to start work on the bid for the 2020 Olympics after staging the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
After the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the latest cricketer to own a football team in the high-profile Indian Super League, investing in the Chennaiyin FC ahead of the event starting October 12.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The Indian team started its preparation for the seven-match ODI series against Australia with a light practice session at the Mumbai Cricket Association grounds (MCA) in Mumbai on Tuesday. The Indian team will be hoping to erase memories of their disastrous campaign at the ICC Champions Trophy with a good showing against World champions Australia.
Ending months of speculation, I-League champions Bengaluru FC and successful head coach Ashley Westwood have parted ways "by mutual consent".
A multi-billion dollar broadcast market, the game's most powerful board's positive intent and a perfect pitch by the global body based on a three-fold 'U-P-L' principle ensured cricket's inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
