India's tennis campaign at the Rio Olympic Games ended in disappointment as Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were blown away by the Czech Republic team of Radek Stepanek and Lucie Hradceka in the bronze medal play-off in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna entered the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event of tennis competition at the Rio Olympics with a straight-set win over Australian pair of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. Sania and Bopanna, who are being touted as India's medal hope at the Olympics, won their opening round match 7-5 6-4 in 73 minutes.
Deepika Kumari advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women's individual recurve event as Indian archers rounded off a good day in office at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
His Olympic medal aspiration blown away by the 'wind', Indian shooter Jitu Rai's Russian coach Smirnov Pavel said efforts should be made to set up ranges in windy conditions in the mountains.
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.
Shooter Abhinav Bindra's technical trainer Heinz Reinkemeier denounced Indian media's 'obsession' for Olympic medal and emphasised that an effort can be categorised as 'good performance' even without a medal.
Olympic sailing began an 11-day regatta on Monday with near perfect winds as competitors showed little fear of heading back into waters criticised for sewage-borne pathogens and floating garbage.
Ibtihaj Muhammad became the first American athlete to compete in the Olympics with a hijab, which she wears to adhere to the tenets of her Muslim faith.
Brazil unfurled a vast canvas celebrating its rainforest and the creative energy of its wildly diverse population in welcoming the world on Friday to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, all to the pounding beat of samba, bossa nova and funk.
Usain Bolt is promising to let American sprinter Justin Gatlin "feel his full wrath" as he zones in on an unprecedented treble-treble of gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Brazil scored an unconvincing 2-1 victory over Colombia to enter the semi-finals of the World Cup on Friday night. They will meet Germany.
Serena Williams, the top-ranked player in women's tennis, said on Tuesday she was shocked to hear her friend and fellow tennis star Maria Sharapova had failed a drug test, but she commended Sharapova for showing courage in taking responsibility.
A team of refugees that will compete at this year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics could number as many as 10 athletes, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on Wednesday.
The World No. 2 had pulled out of Badminton Asia Team Championships because of injury earlier this month, and also exempted herself from participating in the Lucknow Open and South Asian Championships to work on her fitness.
The IOC seems reluctant to ban the entire Russian team from next month's Olympic Games, despite mounting concern over doping violations, the co-author of the report that led to Russia's ban from track and field events said on Wednesday.
Having achieved the goal of a podium finish at the recently-concluded Champions Trophy in London, the Indian men's hockey team chief coach Roelant Oltmans has now set his eyes on his next big target -- the Rio Olympics.
Russia underlined their total dominance in the synchronised swimming programme at the world championships on Saturday by completing a sweep of all seven gold medals with victory in the free combination team event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, met the Indian athletes who will represent the country at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and wished them luck.
BAI has confirmed the services of Tan Kim, who will be joining the Indian team by the end of September to work with the top doubles players.
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) said it will review the incident.
Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang on what made him start the Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation way back in 2011 when he himself in the midst of his own shooting career.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Thursday his country's doping scandal was payback from those unhappy Russia had won the rights to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
India kept their Olympic qualification dreams alive by beating lower-ranked Italy in the shoot-out in a classification match of the women's Hockey World League semi-finals at the KHC Dragons Stadium in Antwerp.
Cape Town-born Van Niekerk is the reigning 400m world champion and he broke Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record to win Olympic Gold in Rio de Janeiro last year.
A round-up of all the results from the 17th World Athletic Championships in London
From the Syrian civil war to the Ukrainian crisis to the terror unleashed by the dreaded Islamic State, there was no lack of news in 2014. Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
Sony Corp does not plan to renew its sponsorship contract with FIFA, the governing body for world football, as the Japanese electronics maker needs to prioritise its restructuring efforts, people familiar with the matter said.
World number two Rory McIlroy has said he still resents the Olympic Games for forcing him to choose between Britain and Ireland and revealed that Tiger Woods sends him texts in the early hours.
The drone photography community Dronestagram released a collection of their favourite drone photography of the year.
In a move which could embarrass the Uttar Pradesh government, state Transport minister Durga Prasad Yadav has embarked on a week-long study tour to Brazil with family in tow.
Real Madrid will welcome back the added firepower of talisman Cristiano Ronaldo and striker Karim Benzema when they entertain promoted Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday.
The flame will be flown in special safety lanterns to Switzerland for a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva on Thursday
'You can never break performance into black and white, there will always be grey and that's the nature of sport' 'My interest just lies in seeing how we can do better'
If the Puja as a brand can be marketed more effectively outside Bengal, even overseas, it might do wonders for the economy, says Atanu Biswas.
Senior journalist Darryl D'Monte reports exclusively for Rediff.com from Paris.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Inbee Park has two words for doubters who thought she should sit out the Olympics and give her spot to another South Korean: gold medal.
