A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
After having maximum possession till the 2nd quarter, India finally took the lead in the 19th minute as Akashdeep Singh scored on rebound of a penalty corner.
Mandeep Singh struck twice as a below-par India struggled past minnows Russia 4-2 in the first-leg of the two-match hockey 2020 Olympic Qualifier, in Bhubaneswar, on Friday.
After remaining unbeaten in their first three matches of the tour, World No.5 India were handed a lesson in hockey by the Kookaburras with Blake Govers (15th, 60th minutes) and Jeremy Hayward (20th, 59th) finding the net twice each.
Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh will be among a host of former stars in the India Maharaja team which will take part in the inaugural edition of the Legends League Cricket (LLC), starting on January 20 in Oman.
With the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games being postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sardar feels the Indian team will get some time to work on its grey areas and unearth new talent.
Other decisions piled up include rationalisation of GST rate slabs, correction of inverted duty on certain items and inclusion of petroleum products.
Vijender Singh (75kg) turned in a solid showing despite being down with viral fever to beat Sweden's Hampus Henriksson in his opening bout at the World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.
India will seek to end 43 years of hurt when they begin the Hockey World Cup campaign against South Africa on Wednesday.
Hockey legend Ashok Kumar reckons India would have won a medal had the Olympics been held this year but the break in momentum will make a big difference now that the Games are pushed to 2021.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Unbeaten India looked the most convincing team in the tournament so far but the dangerous and defensive Koreans came tantalisingly close to register a stunning win over the Manpreet Singh-led side.
A 21-member Indian men's hockey team will embark on a 15-day tour of Europe, starting July 31. High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans will take over as the chief coach of the side following the unceremonious ouster of Paul Van Ass.
Several newly elected MLAs including Navjot Singh Sidhu, Manpreet Singh Badal, Brahm Mohindra, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Razia Sultana, O P Soni are in the race for becoming ministers, party sources said.
Defender Harmanpreet Singh converted two penalty corners as India stamped their authority over New Zealand with an assertive 3-0 victory in the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, on Sunday.
Once implemented, customers making payments using Rupay card or BHIM UPI will get a cashback of 20 per cent of the total GST amount, subject to a maximum of Rs 100.
England's Barry Middleton scored twice in the third quarter, to pilot Ranchi Rays to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Dabang Mumbai in their Hockey India League encounter at the Mahindra Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
India conceded a surprise early goal but made a fine comeback by pumping in four quick goals to beat minnows Scotland 4-1 in their opening match of Hockey World League semi-finals in London.
The three Indian boxers who alleged manipulation in the World Championships trials have submitted their response to the show cause notices issued to them by the national federation and a decision on their fate will be taken by September 20.
India entered the final of the men's hockey tournament at the Asian Games after a solitary goal victory over South Korea in the semi-finals, in Incheon, on Tuesday.
Riding on impressive shows by Pardeep Narwal and Rohit Kumar, Patna Pirates' routed Puneri Paltan 40-21 to enter the finals of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League in New Delhi on Friday. Narwal and Kumar were the star raiders of the match but Patna Pirates' defence also joined the party to win a lop-sided match in the match. The Pune side was all-out on three occasions in the match. The first two came in the first 12 minutes of the match. The all-out assault launched by the Pirates was so severe that Puneri Paltan literally lost heart after they trailed 7-25 at the break. They did come back for a brief period in the second half to inflict an all-out on their rivals but that was all they could manage. It all started with Pardeep Narwal targeting rival skipper Manjeet Chhillar with his first raid with a touch. It was Pardeep Narwal's guile versus the Puneri Paltan defence and every time he came up trumps in the first 15 minutes. His 6-point super raid with four victims and two for the second all-out was the best show by a raider till date and more importantly it came at a crucial juncture.
Talwinder Singh struck a field goal in the dying moments of the game to lead Delhi Wave Riders to a thrilling come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Dabang Mumbai in a Hockey India League contest, in Mumbai, on Friday.
It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
India rode on Ramandeep Singh's brace to beat Argentina 3-2 and register their second consecutive victory in the Sultan of Johor Cup Under-21 hockey tournament, in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Monday.
'It is just an excuse to say that the Centre has run out of money.' 'Pruning these schemes would mean hard time for the people of India.'
In a surprise move on Tuesday, India's women's hockey coach Harendra Singh was named chief coach of the men's team while incumbent men's in-charge Sjoerd Marijne was sent back to the women's camp -- a fallout of the poor show by Manpreet Singh and Co. in the Commonwealth Games.
'There is something fundamentally wrong with the GST -- whether be it the rates, compliance, or the GST Network itself.'
India has just 28 Olympic medals to its credit since making a debut back in 1900.
An impressive India thrashed Canada 5-1 to top Pool C and seal a direct berth in the quarter-finals of the men's hockey World Cup.
'However, this time it looks like that is not working.'
'I play in the present without thinking about the buzz in the background,' says Vivek Sagar Prasad, who has just won the FIH Rising Star of the Year award.
Harendra Singh's outburst against umpiring after India's quarter-final loss to Netherlands in the ongoing World Cup didn't go down well with the world body (FIH) and its president Narinder Batra.
The Indians will have to be at their best in all departments to get the better of the ever-improving Red Lions, who will be out to prove a point after a not-so-impressive opener.
This was due to the fact that they had already won the Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour.
India cricket captain Virat Kohli and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu were on Monday recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna by the awards selection committee.
Ahead of the first meeting of the top decision-making body in nearly eight months, finance ministers of eight states ruled by non-Bharatiya Janata Party and like-minded parties -- Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Kerala and West Bengal -- have devised a joint strategy to press for a zero tax rate on Covid essentials, sources said.
Rishabh Pant cracked a fourth successive fifty-plus score to lead Delhi's eight-wicket rout of Tamil Nadu while Baroda, Mumbai and Punjab also secured wins in their respective Super League matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, in Kolkata on Sunday.
Central Zone upstaged star-studded North Zone by four runs in a close match to remain in the hunt for the title in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Inter Zonal League at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
A listless India slumped to a heart-breaking 0-1 defeat to hosts Malaysia in their last league match as they failed to reach the final of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament for the second consecutive year in Ipoh, Malaysia on Friday.
Normally a star-studded display teeming with celebrities, the Tokyo Olympics ceremony was low-key, with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules and signs calling on spectators to "be quiet around the venue."
