India's in-form shooter Jitu Rai gave the country its first gold medal in the 17th Asian Games, cutting through a tough field to finish on top in the 50m pistol event in Incheon on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, met the Indian athletes who will represent the country at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and wished them luck.
Sania Mirza's was officially named for the coveted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Friday. The Hyderabadi lady is only the second tennis player to be nominated for the country's highest sport honour.
When Pusarla Sindhu won a gold medal at the 2012 Asian junior badminton championships, her cricketing hero Sachin Tendulkar presented her with a car. One can only guess at the reception the 21-year-old player will receive when she returns into the arms of 1.3 billion Indians after becoming the country's most successful female Olympian with her silver-medal performance in Rio. The fact that she had been beaten 19-21 21-12 21-15 by Spanish world number one Carolina Marin in the final mattered little for a country that until Friday had won a solitary bronze at these Games.
Indian pistol shooters, on Wednesday, pulled off a clean sweep in the 10m air pistol event at the Commonwealth Shooting Championship with Shahzar Rizvi, Omkar Singh and Jitu Rai winning gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
A short display of Brazilian culture, including their music and dance, greeted the Indian contingent at the formal Welcome Ceremony in the Games Village for the 31st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Ace marksman Abhinav Bindra belied expectations after failing to qualify for the finals of men's 10 air rifle event in the 51st ISSF World Championships, his hopes of earning an Olympic quota in this tournament going up in smoke.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The mood turned somber at the 35th National Games after a young netball player lost his life in a freak accident.
Teen sensations Bhaker, Chaudhary and Bhanwala grabbed podiums and headlines with their fearless approach, with Japsal, in their own words, playing a crucial role in their success.
Trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu got the nod ahead of Sanjeev Rajput as the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced its final shooting squad of 12 for the Rio Olympic Games in New Delhi on Saturday.
Indian sports had a lot to celebrate despite a decrease in the medal count at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Jaspal Rana says 'too much' is being expected from teenage prodigies like Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala
Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, who is competing in his fifth Games, led the Indian contingent at the parade of nations during the Open Ceremony of the Rio Olympics on Friday night.
India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, TT player Manika Batra and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu were on Tuesday picked for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry's selection committee.
Meet first-time Indian athletes hoping to make an impression in Rio.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narendra Batra feels Sports Ministry should allow the parents of star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal to accompany them at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The five shooters had to first spend a few hours at the Atlanta Airport after KLM airlines shut the gates before they could board, leaving them with no choice but to spend 12 hours in the terminal where they were forced to sleep on benches and were also not provided with accommodation or food.
Indian shooters continued their dominance at the Barry Buddon Shooting Range with Jitu Rai and Gurpal Singh bagging a gold and silver respectively in the men's 50m pistol event in Glasgow on Monday.
Indian men ended their campaign in the pistol events on a winning note by shooting down a silver medal in the 25m centre fire event even as the women's team exited from the 50m three-position competition without success at the Asian Games in Incheon on Friday.
Gagan Narang on Friday won the bronze medal in the 50m Rifle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning in US, earning himself a quota place for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Rajasthan's Mahaveer Singh and Tejaswini Sawant of Maharashtra were among the shooters to have won the gold medals on the 10th day of the 56th National Shooting Championship in New Delhi.
The 23-year-old, a bronze-winner in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast earlier this year, shot a score of 564 to finish on top.
Four persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of local Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Pandit, police said on Wednesday, claiming that the killing was the result of an "old enmity".
Shooter Heena Sidhu, from whom a lot was expected in the run-up to the ongoing Olympic Games, put up yet another flop show to finish a distant 20th in the 25m pistol event for women in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. In the 30-shot precision round, Heena accumulated 286 points out of a possible 300 with series scores of 95, 95 and 96 that pushed her in the rear of the queue.
'This is another opportunity to do that, improve my medal and performance. I have got two team bronze in the Asian Games, and hopefully, I will improve my performance and maybe even get the gold'
Team India's Jasprit Bumrah, India women's cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur and shooter Heena Sindhu have exceeded expectations to make the cut.
Indian shooters continued to shine at the 17th Asian Games, clinching the bronze medal in men's 10m air pistol team event, but Jitu Rai could not emulate his golden feat and finished fifth after promising much in the earlier part of the individual finals in Incheon on Sunday.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has come up with a proposal to set up a special committee, to be headed by Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, to carry out a comprehensive review of the shooters' below-par performance at the Rio Games. Indian shooters proved to be an epic failure in a disastrous Rio Olympic Games as the 12-member team, with the exception of Bindra, failed miserably to live up to the sky-high expectations. This has left the country's shooting fraternity highly disappointed.
Indian shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai were placed at the 17th and 19th spots after the first day of the Men's Trap qualification event at Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
Ace shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched the silver medal in the men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Ajerbaijan, on Tuesday. The Indian marksman scored 456.9 to win the silver medal in the last World Cup before the Rio Olympic Games.
Saurbah Chaudhary would dream of excelling in the Olympic sport one day.
Swift intervention by Ministry of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj ensured shooting ace Abhinav Bindra was accompanied by his coach, whose passport got stolen in Germany while the duo were travelling to Rio de Janeiro for the ISSF World Cup, a test event for the upcoming Olympics.
Least affected by the recent controversies around her, India's pistol ace Heena Sidhu's primary target is the World Championship
Unsparing on the under-performing shooters but equally scathing on coaches and the national federation, the Abhinav Bindra-led National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) review committee hardly minced words as it chastised the Rio Olympics flop show while recommending a systematic overhaul.
Young Apurvi Chandela wants to be at the 'top of her game' as she aims for a maiden Olympic appearance at next year's Rio Games by fulfilling the stringent selection criteria that the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) has set for the Indian shooters.
'An example is mixed pair test event over here in air pistol (which Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu won). So we have the best chance of picking up an extra medal in the two air events. That's why I believe it is in our interest, this change. I am not worried about it'
Teenage prodigies Anish Bhanwala, Manu Bhaker and Elavenil Valarivan will carry India's medal hopes in shooting at the Asian Games, beginning in
Check out India's report card on the fifth day of the 2016 Olympics.
With a rape case going on against him, he happens to be jobless, having being sacked as assistant coach from the Sports Authority of India last year.
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