Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza will carry India's gold medal hopes in the tennis event of the Commonwealth Games as both progressed to the singles final even as the star pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi bit the dust in a big upset on Friday.
World chess champion Viswanathan Anand does not want to become part of the chaos and controversy surrounding the Commonwealth Games and only wants to focus on the number of medals India can win in the October 3-14 event. 'I really don't want to become a part of all this (mess). I don't wish to comment on what's going on. At the moment, I am just hoping that we (India) win lots of medals. I am concerned about our medal tally.'
The 23-year-old world number 144 (before the final) from Faridabad, however, secured the Paris Olympics quota for the country after topping the second ranking round match with a brilliant 24 out of 25 hits.
The haul of 64 medals at the Commonwealth Games, in July-August, which included 15 gold, should act as the ideal springboard for the Indian contingent to better its medal tally at Guangzhou, China, four years ago.
A golden dream unfulfilled for over 30 years remained just that in women's hockey but India equalled its best ever medal haul as sailors joined the assorted contributors to the country's tally at the 18th Asian Games, on Friday.
India have won 12 out of 14 gold medals so far
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Abhay Singh won a thrilling battle against Noor Zaman as India regained the Asian Games squash gold with an epic 2-1 win over Pakistan.
The Indian women's team comprising of Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan and Naamya Kapoor, dominated proceedings in the 25m pistol team event at the ISFF Junior World Shooting Championship in Lima, Peru, beating US 16-4 in the gold medal match.
PM Modi immediately took to Twitter to congratulate the athlete.
'Hockey India will not like its hockey athletes to peak 35 days before the Asian Games 2022 and would like the athletes to peak at the right time i.e. during the Asian Games 2022.'
India's regional supremacy at the South Asian Games went unchallenged. The hosts were crowned overall champions for the 12th consecutive time after a record-breaking haul of 308 medals.
China's second mixed doubles team Zheng Si Wei and Huang Won Ho avenged their compatriots' defeat shortly after, making quick work of South Korea's Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-13, 21-14.
It was also Patil's second senior world championship gold in his very first outing, having won the individual 10m air rifle event earlier.
Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist IAS officer Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj bettered his bronze from the last edition by winning gold in the SL4 final. Sukant Kadam took home the bronze in the same event.
India has just 28 Olympic medals to its credit since making a debut back in 1900.
Indian sporting fraternity on Saturday hailed shooters Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adana's 1-2 finish at the Paralympics, terming the feat as "stuff of dreams", with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauding the duo for bringing glory to the country.
A look at how the Indian athletes fared on day one of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, on Monday.
India has hit the headlines for reasons other than sporting in the just-begun Commonwealth Games after it came to light that the country's flag was shown upside down in the official song for the 11-day event.
India's Vijayveer Sidhu and Tejaswani claimed the gold medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team event of the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi on Saturday.
India wrapped up their shooting assignment at the 24th Deaflympics in Caxais do Sul, Brazil, by finishing in second place with three gold and two bronze medals.
On Monday, it was the men's 3P team who first got India on board, going down 12-16 to Italy.
GMs S S Ganguly and Harikrishna finished eighth and ninth respectively.
Samaresh Jung shot down two more gold medals while Gagan Narang and Joydeep Karmakar combined to shatter a meet record as the Indians continued to rule the roost in the Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi on Friday
Then the air rifle women's team consisting of Arya Borse, Zeena Khitta and Ramita downed the Korean trio of Yeeun AN, Eunji Kwon and Jeongin Jang 17-9 in the title decider to give India the third gold of the day.
Star cueist Pankaj Advani provided the first gold medal for India in the 16th Asian Games by clinching the title in billards singles while the shooters accounted for a silver and bronze on the second day of competitions in Guangzhou on Sunday.
International Master Divya Deshmukh maintained a slender half-point lead after defeating Norman Kseniya of Russia in the eighth round of the World Junior Girls' chess championship in Gandhinagar on Monday.
'India definitely has a sporting tradition but unfortunately we don't have a sports culture'
Yogeshwar Dutt provided a late boost to India's medal collection at the 30th Olympic Games by claiming a memorable bronze in the men's freestyle 60 kg category, thus becoming the second Indian to achieve the feat in the country's Olympics history.
Just hours after winning a silver in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, ace shuttler Jwala Gutta slammed discrimination of doubles game in India, saying that singles players were given more recognition in the country.
Wrestlers Ravinder Singh, Anil Kumar and Sanjay Kumar swelled India's gold medal tally, winning their respective men's events, on the second day of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi on Tuesday.
'I am happy to win the silver medal, but, at the same time, I feel very sad for my coach, Harnam Singh, who always believed that I would win the gold medal at the Delhi Games,' said weightlifter Soniya Chanu.
After conceding a point, the Indian grappler was quick to pull back two points by overpowering his opponent and throwing him out of the mat.
Abhinav Bindra is also very impressed by the young shooters' ability to compete at the highest level with such remarkable consistency.
Will India finally reach the elusive double-digit mark? Raj Kishore Mishra, former joint secretary at the sports ministry, for one, is willing to stick his neck out on the possibility.
Rochelle Macfarlane Maria won the silver in girl's triple jump to end India's controversy-marred track and field campaign on a high at the second Asian Youth Games in Nanjing.
With the men's squash team clinching a silver medal after losing to Malaysia in the final, India ended their campaign at the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing at the 10th spot and with an impressive tally of 14 medals (3 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze).
Indian sports had a lot to celebrate despite a decrease in the medal count at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
A dominant India claimed both the gold medals on offer by some distance in the men's and women's 10m air pistol team events on the third competition day of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
Meghana and Tasnim pair defeated Korean duo of Yeo Jin Gong and Da Yeon Jeong 23-21, 21-18 in the final to secure the Under-15 girls doubles title.
