Wrestler Sushil Kumar, the only Indian sportsperson to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals, is disappointed to miss out on the Padma Bhushan award though his name had been recommended.
Ending days of speculation, the Indian Olympic Association on Sunday announced that wrestler Sushil Kumar, a bronze medallist at the Beijing Games, will be the flag bearer of the Indian contingent at the upcoming London Olympics.
The 23-year-old Indian Army officer was killed in a mysterious blast in Kashmir on Friday.
Rejecting allegations of conflict of interest against Sushil Kumar, the Sports Ministry on Thursday defended the star grappler's appointment as a national observer for wrestling.
The seat had fallen vacant following the death of Lok Janshakti Party founder and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
Speculations were rife over the post with senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who was in the state to oversee the party's post-election activities, and chief minister Nitish Kumar keeping off from the issue when asked by the press.
Disappointed at not winning gold for India at the recently concluded London Olympics, wrestler Sushil Kumar said if he had attacked the Japanese opponent first then he could have easily defeated him in the final.
Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar on Monday got engaged to Savi, daughter of his coach Satpal Singh, at a private ceremony in New Delhi attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Recuperating from their shoulder and knee injuries, star Indian grapplers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt remain doubtful starters for the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held from April 18 to 22.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will go ahead with the trials in the men's freestyle 74kg category despite a postponement request from the injured Sushil Kumar. Sushil, who has been struggling to revive his career, has pulled out of Friday's trials citing a hand injury and had requested trials in his category to be postponed.
Modi, one of the tallest leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, had been missing from action for quite some time and was conspicuous by his absence when Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the party's manifesto earlier in the day.
Wrestler Aman Sehrawat added to India's medal tally at the Olympics, winning the bronze in the men's 57kg Freestyle in Paris on Friday. He defeated Puerto Rico's Darian Cruz 13-5.
Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed sadness over 'pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated' while being deported from the United States and recalled that America had to express regret over the treatment meted out to India diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013 after the then United Progressive Alliance government retaliated sharply.
After breaking an almost six-decade jinx with his gold medal-winning feat at the World Wrestling Championships, wrestler Sushil Kumar has set his eyes on next month's Commonwealth Games, where he believes India can produce about 15 champions.
Modi, who also handles the finance portfolio in the Bihar government, replaces Asim Dasgupta, who had served in the post for over a decade since the formation of the body.
The Begusarai MP said the 'wyavastha (dispensation)' is responsible for the problems being faced by the people in the current situation.
Sushil Kumar, whose defeat in a tune-up event raised doubts about his form ahead of the Asian Games, on Friday, asserted that he is 'far from finished' and is not out there to prove anything.
On his return to Delhi, he told ANI will be having a roadshow from a place that has given India plenty of great wrestlers, including Olympic medalilsts Yogeshwar Dutt, Sushil Kumar, Ravi Dahiya and now Aman.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday echoed Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate should be a liberal person like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee acceptable to all sections of society.
'It is true that Nitish Kumar had shown reluctance to continue as chief minister after the assembly polls and said the BJP should stake claim for the top post'
Keeping up the party's attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today lambasted him for allegedly taking Congress help to stay on in power and betraying the mandate of the people.
Amidst the dilemma of double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Yadav fighting each other for a place in the World Championships, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has decided to hold selection trials of the senior grapplers on July 6-7.
Not in the best of form of late, Olympic bronze medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar wants to participate in each and every tournament leading upto next year's London Games to regain his mojo back.
"It has been decided that there shall be no change in the leadership and Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister will continue as leader of the legislature party," party spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad told PTI shortly after Modi won the 'head count' of legislators. BJP leadership had decided to go for a 'secret ballot' to assess the view of legislators as a way out to address the demand by some of them that Modi should be removed from the two posts.
Doing an encore in London is not something that Sushil Kumar wants to lose his sleep over, but the Beijing Olympics bronze medallist has promised to put in the hard yards to ensure a podium finish in the upcoming Olympics.
London Olympics silver medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar reveals why he chose to sign up with Olympic Gold Quest and how he is planning for his ultimate mission of winning an Olympic gold in three years's time in Rio.
Spearheaded by Olympic medallists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, Indian wrestlers will once again look to dominate, but the scrapping of Greco-Roman category will certainly affect the country's medal count when the grapplers start their campaign at the Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, on Tuesday.
'Narsingh is a very senior wrestler and has done a fabulous job by sealing the Olympics berth.' 'But he needs to understand that the berth belongs to the country and not any individual.'
'The BJP will use Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha to check Nitish Kumar.' 'They will not allow him to function freely as before.'
'When Harivansh sits in the chair, you feel your voice will be heard.'
Here's the full list of 49 MPs suspended from Lok Sabha:
Olympic-bound grappler Amit Kumar has been forced to pull out of the Hari Ram Indian GP Wrestling after being diagnosed with chicken pox while Beijing Games bronze medallist Sushil Kumar still remains a doubtful starter for the inaugural edition of the event, commencing on Friday.
All 26 victims were men.
While two bodies were recovered on Wednesday, the death toll climbed to four on Thursday after the recovery of two more bodies from the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site in Kangra district.
WFI is concerned that the good reputation built over the years with stupendous international performances has been ruined.
Taking strong cognisance of the matter, Brahm Prakash, the sub-divisional magistrate-cum-assistant returning officer in Haryana's Kaithal, ordered the suspension of five computer operators and directed police to conduct a thorough probe.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar spearheaded a sparkling show as Indian grapplers dominated the wrestling arena with three gold medals after the shooters ended their campaign on a rousing note with five more podium finishes on sixth day of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Tuesday.
Amit Kumar (55kg) and Yogeshwar Dutt (60kg) are the first Indian wrestlers to book berths at the London Olympics after clinching gold and silver medals respectively in the Asian qualifying tournament, in Astana, Kazakhstan. However, the fancied Sushil Kumar (66kg) failed to make the cut.
Caught in the middle of a controversy over arranging a selection trial to choose between Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Pancham Yadav for this year's Rio Olympics, the Wrestling Federation of India is likely to meet on Tuesday to break the deadlock, which is threatening to snowball into a massive furore.
