Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's obsessive pursuit of excellence and a new-found sprint sensation in Hima Das gave Indian athletics audacious Olympic hopes but familiar dope shame kept things in perspective in an eventful 2018.
Unbeaten US boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and Filipino boxer-turned-politician Manny Pacquiao have left no stone unturned in ensuring that they enter the ring for Saturday's 'Fight-of-the-Century' bout completely drug-free.
Badminton World No 1 Lee Chong Wei has denied cheating or relying on banned substances despite failing a doping test that could lead to a two-year ban.
The Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajeev Mehta on Monday requested the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to expedite the process for the vaccination of the country's Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes and officials against COVID-19.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
With no Russians, few stars and the sport engulfed in a doping crisis the world indoor athletics championships begin this week with officials holding their breath and eager to put the spotlight back on the track.
Chanu has decided to present her case before the hearing panel of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in Hungary.
Over 500 dope tests every year in the last four years, specialised diet and nutritional supplements only from Germany -- these are the ingredients that went into the Indian weightlifters' sensational haul of five gold medals at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
'We have ensured that whatever he eats or drinks comes in a packaged form and is thoroughly checked.'
World Athletics, the sport's governing body, limited the number of Russians eligible to compete internationally this year to 10 in response to doping offences by senior staff at Russia's suspended athletics federation.
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the men's singles opening round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Anaheim, United States.
Continuing to back dope-tainted wrestler Narsingh Yadav, a top Wrestling Federation of India official on Friday claimed the 74-kg freestyle wrestler would have clinched the silver medal had he taken part in the Rio Olympics instead of being banned for four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
A bitter court battle, followed by an embarrassing dope scandal, before some redemption through an Olympic medal -- Indian wrestling in 2016 mirrored the script of a Bollywood potboiler in which Sakshi Malik emerged as the new star on the horizon. For most part of the year, wrestling hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, making it a tumultuous Olympic build-up after two-time medallist Sushil Kumar found himself ousted from contention just a couple of months before the Games in Rio. The chain of events that set in ended up disgracing the sport before Sakshi emerged an unlikely saviour in the Brazillian city.
The 23-year-old world champion crossed the line in the Ras al-Khaimah half marathon three seconds quicker than the mark set by fellow Kenyan Florence Kiplagat in Barcelona two years ago, although the new record remains subject to ratification.
Johri evaded questions on RTI, saying: "RTI is not on the agenda of today's meeting. It is out of context."
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Frida
With Narsingh's participation in serious doubt, Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com spoke exclusively to Sushil Kumar's coach Satpal Singh.
Former international athletics federation (IAAF) president Lamine Diack has told French police that he asked a Russian athletics boss for 1.5 million euros to finance political opposition in his native Senegal in 2011, the French daily Le Monde reported on Friday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
The coach of Brazil's national swimming team says China's Olympic champion Sun Yang tried to elbow and kick a female swimmer.
Beat Sergie Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in a ballot of the governing body's 50th Congress
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who is a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club World Cricket Committee, will skip its upcoming meeting at Lord's on August 11-12.
Triple Olympic gold medal winner Kenenisa Bekele said he was bitterly disappointed to be left out of Ethiopia's team for the Rio Olympics and blamed members of the country's athletics federation he said knew nothing of the sport.
The sports ministry, on Thursday, received a hike of Rs 258.2 crore in the union budget for 2018-19, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Parliament in New Delhi.
Why didn't the BCCI CEO mention Pakistan in his letter?
David Sharpe, who from mid-year will head Sport Integrity Australia, a new government agency merging anti-corruption and anti-doping bodies, said he was mindful of the potential threat organised crime posed to esports given its interest from betting markets.
More sporting bodies sanctioned Russian and Belarusian athletes on Tuesday over Russia's invasion of Ukraine
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was felt on the national sports budget as the central government on Monday allocated Rs 2596.14 crore for the financial year 2021-22 -- a reduction of Rs 230.78 crore when compared to the amount earmarked initially for the previous year.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
A relieved Narsingh Yadav has said he is eager to go to the Olympics now and win a medal for the country.
Shot-putter Tajinder Singh Toor on Monday qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a new national record at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala.
Winning gold medals will prove easier than winning back fan trust, admitted IAAF chief Sebastian Coe as he prepared to open the world indoor athletics championships on Thursday.
Olympic chief Bach said on Saturday that he was sure clean Russian athletes would compete at the 2016 Games
The athletes were unable to enter Australia due to government restrictions on foreign nationals travelling from China.
The suspense over wrestler Narsingh Yadav's Olympic participation was on Thursday prolonged further after the National Anti-Doping Agency deferred its final verdict on the doping scandal surrounding him to Saturday or Monday at the end of a two-day hearing in New Delhi. A day after Narsingh and his lawyers presented their case on the failed dope test, which according to them, was a conspiracy against the grappler, NADA's legal team gave its arguments against the sabotage theory before the disciplinary committee. "Hearing has been concluded today (Thursday). The judgement will come out either on Saturday or Monday," NADA's lawyer Gaurang Kanth told reporters at the end of the hearing.
Sun Yang was banned for eight years last Friday for missing an out-of-competition test in 2018, and Chad Le Clos, who lost to his rival in the 200-metres freestyle final in Rio de Janeiro four years ago, believes justice has been done.
