Priyanka Chopra is the only female in the top ten.
Iran ended seven-time champions India's unchallenged kabaddi domination in the Asian Games since the sport was first introduced in 1990.
While the top names in badminton haven't openly discussed mental health and wellbeing issues in the way that gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka have done of late, Olympic expectations nonetheless weigh heavily on some.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) left no stone unturned to make the occasion a memorable one.
The Badminton Association of India are hoping to finalise the duo's appointments by the end of this month.
Two unassuming young women saved India the humiliation of returning empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time since Barcelona in 1992 with awe-inspiring performances at Rio.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Saina Nehwal produced one of her finest performances in recent times to guide Indian women's team to a comfortable victory over Thailand and catapult the hosts to the top of Group Y in the Uber Cup badminton tournament in New Delhi.
Ravi Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler to qualify for the final at the Olympic Games, when he sensationally turned around the 57kg semi-final bout by pinning Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev, in Tokyo.
The BCCI has recommended former India captain Rahul Dravid for the prestigious Dronacharya award and once again nominated Virat Kohli for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna honour.
Here are some of the other events -- in pictures -- that made news last week.
Rediff.com takes you through a photographic journey of all the exciting sporting moments that unfolded over the last seven days.
National camp to resume on Monday.
India's foreign coach for badminton Agus Dwi Santoso says he will not be able to implement his plans for the Tokyo Olympics with only four shuttlers at his disposal, and wants the Sports Authority of India to allow more players in the national camp.
Unlike the Olympics that was widely covered, the Rio Paralympics set to begin tomorrow will not have any television coverage in India as it failed to attract any national broadcasters after a city-based NGO on Tuesday highlighted the "discrimination" of the para athletes. With no television coverage, a city-based NGO who works with the para athletes today highlighted the plight of the para athletes in India and appealed for proper media coverage to give the athletes their due credit
Head coach Ramesh Powar wants team to meet Sindhu and Neeraj
India began their campaign Badminton Asia Team Championships in style with both men's and women's teams posting victories against their Singapore rivals to make it to the quarterfinals. Indian men made a clean sweep of their five-match tie against Singapore, who had lost to China two days ago. India, China and Singapore are part of Group A. Despite the absence of star player Saina Nehwal, the Indian women registered a comprehensive 5-0 win against Singapore and also entered the quarter finals as the Singapore team lost to Japan earlier. Each tie comprises three singles and two doubles matches. India's rising shuttler Srikanth scored a comfortable 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over his Singapore rival Zi Liang Derek Wong in the first Singles match. The Singaporean tried to make matters difficult for Srikanth, but the world number nine bounced back to have the last laugh.
India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand wants Badminton World Federation (BWF) to come up with "radical" solutions to restart the sport smoothly in a post coronavirus world, suggesting that conducting more tournaments at a single venue could be the way forward. The coronavirus outbreak, which has so far infected over 41 lakh people and caused close to 3 lakh deaths worldwide, forced BWF to suspend all events, including the Olympic qualifiers, till end of July.
Saina squandered a game advantage to lose 21-16, 11-21, 14-21 against Takahashi
Indian athletes, including the boxers and shooters, hit the ground running as they started their pre-Olympic training, hoping to live up to massive expectations in the pandemic-hit Games in Tokyo.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal's ascent to the top of women's badminton was officially confirmed.
Rio Paralympcs silver medallist remains upset over being ignored for Khel Ratna this year and feels exception should have been made by the awards committee, like it had done in 2016.
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.
Touched with Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu's gesture to donate Rs 30 lakh from his prize money to his school, Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Monday said that all athletes backed by the government should try to set up academies or centres of their own to inspire the youth. Mariyappan, who scripted history at Rio Paralympics after winning a gold medal in high jump, has donated Rs 30 lakh from his 2 crore prize money towards his government school in Tamil Nadu.
Kiren Rijiju said he would fail as a Sports Minister if India cannot finish inside the top 10 in the medals tally by 2028 Olympics.
"Sometimes, these small things affect a long match where you need extra energy," Gopichand said on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Indian athletes' performance on Day 9 of the Commonwealth Games.
Sports stars extended warm wishes to their fans on social media as they get wrapped in New Year spirit.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy scored a stunning straight games victory over world No. 18 Li Wenmei and Zheng Yu to make it to the second round in the women's doubles at the US $350,000 India Open, in Delhi, on Tuesday.
Neeraj's gold and three other athletics silver medals, along with Saina Nehwal's badminton singles bronze, propelled India's overall medal count to 41 (8 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze).
India's badminton doubles specialist N Sikki Reddy on Saturday heaved a sigh of relief after returning negative for COVID-19 barely two days after testing positive for the contagious disease, saying she was "shocked" by the not-so-kind reactions her initial result attracted.
Satwik-Chirag dished out a gritty performance to outwit the local favourites a
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
Badminton rackets used by the Paralympic gold medallist, the javelin which brought India its first gold in the Olympics and gloves worn by the bronze medal winning athlete are among Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mementos which are drawing the highest bids currently on the culture ministry website which is e-auctioning them.
Many believe that marketing budgets could be a hurdle.
Kidambi Srikanth, whose stature has grown immensely following a phenomenal 2017, was nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri award by former Sports Minister Vijay Goel.
Rathore said the government was 'leaving no stone unturned' to train 200 elite athletes for the 2020 Olympics
PM Modi, Olympian Abhinav Bindra lead country in congratulating Mirabai Chanu on winning Olympic silver on Saturday.
Confident about their preparation for the upcoming World Championships, India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said the home shuttlers have the best chance of winning multiple medals at the prestigious tournament next month.
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