Excitement and expectations has reached a feverish pitch in Tripura as the people from the small north-eastern state will watch their favourite daughter Dipa Karmakar vault into history during the finals at the Rio Olympics, on Sunday night.
Spain and World No 1 Rafael Nadal visited the popular Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio before the Rio Open tennis tournament.
China shrugged off badminton's biggest Olympic scandal to sweep all five titles at London four years ago but the Asian super-power is trying to keep a lid on expectations of another bumper gold medal haul at the Rio de Janeiro Games. The peerless team that set up the 'Great Haul of China' in London will line up almost unchanged at Rio, anchored by men's singles great Lin Dan and women's champion Li Xuerui. So strong were the Chinese in 2012 that they swept the titles without the reigning world champion women's doubles pairing of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, who were expelled from the tournament in disgrace.
Rio 2 features some lovely, complex animation and a vivid, cheerful colour palette but is a one-time watch at best, says Paloma Sharma.
Construction at a tennis arena was stopped while work was partially suspended at the velodrome, the ministry said in a note, citing a "grave and imminent danger to the physical safety of workers."
Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi has been banned for two years after failing a drug test at the Rio Olympics, the sport's governing body (FINA) said.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has cleared the way for former Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan to compete at the Rio Games after upholding his appeal against a Korean Olympic Committee doping ban, Yonhap news reported on Friday.
Postponing the Rio Olympics due to fears that the event could speed the spread of the Zika virus would give a "false" sense of security because travelers are constantly going in and out of Brazil, the chair of the WHO's Emergency Committee said. Extensive travel in a globalised world is the issue, not the Games that start on August 5, said David Heymann, chair of the Health Protection Agency in Britain who also leads the World Health Organization's panel of independent experts on Zika. "The problem is not the Olympics, the problem is other travel besides the Olympics, if there is a problem," Heymann told Reuters in a telephone interview from London on Monday. "People go in and out of Brazil all the time for holiday, for business, for whatever. And the Olympics is much less travel, it would be one-time travel. It's actually in the winter months when hopefully transmission (of the virus) is less."
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said on Tuesday that the Rio de Janeiro Olympics would be 'spectacular' and a 'great success' despite a political and economic crisis gripping the host nation.
The former world No. 1 reached the semi-finals of the Bellsouth Open at home in Chile.
P V Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to reach the final at the Olympics when she shocked Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in straight games in the women's singles at the Rio Games on Thursday. The two-time World Championships bronze medallist scored a sensational 21-19, 21-10 victory over the All England champion in 49 minutes.
Professional boxers who compete at this year's Olympics will be stripped of their International Boxing Federation titles, the IBF said in a statement on Monday.
World number two Andy Murray is planning to participate in the forthcoming Rio Olympics in order to defend his Olympic gold medal despite growing concerns over the rapid spread of Zika virus in Brazil. Earlier, in an open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 150 health experts had said that the current plans for the prestigious event need to be revised while citing several scientific studies that revealed the adverse effects of the virus. The WHO, however, turned down calls to move the Olympics venue, saying that moving the games would "not significantly alter" the spread of the virus. Murray, however, would head into the tournament after taking appropriate guidance from the Foreign Office and the British Olympic Association about the danger that the virus poses, the Guardian reported.
The bad water quality at Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay puts Paralympic sailors in constant fear of their health during competitions with organisers having failed to live up to their promises, Paralympic champion Heiko Kroeger said on Tuesday. The experienced German sailor, who won a gold medal at the Sydney 2000 and silver at the London 2012 Paralympics, said sailors in wheelchairs would be especially vulnerable in the polluted waters during the Sept. 7-18 Paralympics in the Brazilian city. "Usually when you are sailing you open your mouth and take in some water to refresh yourself," Kroeger told Reuters a day after returning from a competition in Rio. "But in Rio last week, mouths and noses stayed shut and heads turned away from the spray," he said. "I have been sailing a long time but I have never seen that happening. "There is a constant fear in our heads, a fear that you could get sick," said Kroeger, who also sailed in the bay back in September. "That of course affects the competition because you know that if you get sick you are out."
Jaspal Rana's contribution towards Manu Bhaker's remarkable transformation into a double Olympics medallist will not go unnoticed. The national shooting federation is mulling bringing the Dronacharya awardee coach back into its fold.
The city of Rio de Janeiro cancelled the construction contract for the Olympic tennis centre on Thursday, just 200 days before the start of the games, fining the consortium responsible for delays and breach of contract for the mostly finished venue.
Novak Djokovic etched his name into Olympic history, capturing the gold medal in a thrilling victory over Carlos Alcaraz.
Pele's doctors have given him the go ahead to light the Olympic cauldron on Friday, but muscle pains may bar the Brazilian soccer great from the torch ceremony that opens the Rio de Janeiro Games.
World number one Serena Williams and second seed Angelique Kerber progressed through the first round of the Rio Olympics tennis on Sunday despite windy conditions that delayed play on most of the smaller tennis courts.
Russian swimmers Vladimir Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev have launched an appeal against the ruling banning them from next month's Rio Olympic Games even though they have never failed a doping test.
Star grapplers Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia on Friday welcomed Delhi court's decision to frame sexual harassment charges against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, calling it a big victory for country's women wrestlers.
Expectations were high from Paris and observers of the game felt at least one, if not two medals, could be expected from the six boxers who qualified.
Australia's Olympic champion high hurdler Sally Pearson has pulled out of the Rio de Janeiro games after tearing her hamstring in training.
'In women's singles now, there are a lot of long rallies and long matches, being consistent. I am confident in that now.'
Brazilian Minister of Sports George Hilton says everything is on track for the 2016 Rio Games.
Rio-bound world champion Adam Peaty gave Britain their first swimming gold of the European aquatics championships on Tuesday with the fastest time of the year in the 100 metres breaststroke.
The FIH has responded by introducing a number of changes to the way hockey will be played and broadcast at the Rio Games. Those include a move to 15-minute quarters and scheduling more time for television replays and analysis to showcase players' virtuoso skills with a ball moving at more than 160 kilometres an hour, Fairweather said. For the first time in Olympic competition, the Rio hockey tournament will also feature quarter-finals, making it the last team sport to adopt the format at the Games.
Rio de Janeiro is seeking a new venue for the opening water polo matches at the 2016 Olympics after organisers on Thursday confirmed reforms at the proposed venue will not be completed in time.
Cypriot tennis player Marcos Baghdatis has withdrawn from next month's Rio Olympics after failing to recover from an elbow injury, the World No 42 said on Friday.
The Archery Association of India (AAI) on Sunday selected Atanu Das to represent the country in the men's recurve event at the Rio Olympics after conducting trials in Bengaluru.
The hearing into Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand's missed drugs test was adjourned today after the opening day of evidence.
A summary of India's athletes' showing at the Paris Paralympics on Tuesday.
Shaan talks about things that are close to his heart.
A Rio Olympics media bus, driving above the speed limit, hit a speed bump injuring three reporters travelling inside it, with one being taken to hospital, a Games official said on Tuesday. The accident occurred on Monday evening. A South Korean journalist was taken to hospital for treatment before being released. "It involved three journalists - a Korean, an Israeli and one working for (U.S.) broadcaster NBC, for whom we do not have the nationality," Games spokesman Mario Andrada said.
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.
The spread of the Zika virus in Brazil needs to be monitored but is not a threat to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Germany's chief Olympic doctor said.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar said that 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro will be his last appearance at the quadrennial extravaganza but he will take a final call on his retirement post Brazil games.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored a late equaliser to salvage a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Argentina.
Legendary athlete Milkha Singh lashed out at the Indian Olympics Association, holding it responsible for the poor performance of the Indian sportspersons at the ongoing Rio Olympics. Milkha, who had missed a bronze medal by a whisker in the 1960 Rome Olympics, said that the standard of performance of the Indian sportspersons has gone down as compared to earlier editions of the Games. "True, we have not being doing well (in Rio). In earlier Olympics, we have done better, winning medals, even gold, silver and bronze. The IOA will have to take responsibility for this," Milkha said.
Men's skeet, where competitors use shotguns to break clay targets flung into the air, has become much more competitive over the last decade, and it was "getting harder and harder to win", Hancock observed.
