Geeta and Babita Phogat, both Commonwealth Games medallists became household names after their life story was brought alive on the silver screen through the blockbuster 'Dangal'.
Athletes and officials from eight disciplines of archery, badminton, table tennis, hockey, judo, gymnastics, swimming and weightlifting landed in Tokyo
Wrestlers Ravinder Khatri and Babita Kumari have secured spots at the upcoming Rio Olympics after their rivals failed a dope test, taking the total number of quota places from India to eight. Khatri was awarded the berth in the Greco-Roman 85 kg after Kenzheev Zhanarbek of Kyrgystan tested positive at the Asian Olympic qualifier. Babita gets a shot at competing in Rio with Mongolian wrestler Sumiya Erdenechimeg failing the dope test in 53 kg freestyle, also at the Asian qualifier. Last week, Vinesh Phogat clinched a gold as she and Sakshi Malik secured Rio berths in 48 and 58kg respectively at the second World Olympic Qualifying tournament in a historic feat of two Indian women wrestlers qualifying for Olympics for the first time.
Table tennis player Manika Batra, who will be conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award this year, said that the accolade would spur her to bring more laurels for the country.
The Italians are playing tennis from their balconies. What are you doing?
Mary Kom won the Padma Bhushan in 2013 and Padma Shri in 2006.
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 WFI has taken a decision in principle to let these wrestlers prepare on their own and not disturb them. On their requests, we have decided to let them skip the trials as they are best bets in their weight categories and hardly face any competition'
Well aware of their preparations and formative years, Modi's conversations touched upon the making of their success stories and also some fun queries like the one posed to world champion P V Sindhu.
Ace Indian sprinter Dutee Chand said the Arjuna Award will motivate her to win a prestigious Olympic medal at the Tokyo Games next year.
"The unfair and discriminatory" rules have drawn sharp criticism from the Indian Olympic Association, which has written to the Games' organising committee requesting it to ensure that mechanisms to prevent COVID-19 do not have any "adverse and detrimental impact" on performance of athletes.
World Championship silver medallist wrestler Deepak Punia has jumped to World No 1 position in the 86kg but Bajrang Punia lost the top rank in the 65kg category in the latest rankings.
This was due to the fact that they had already won the Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour.
Sakshi Malik ended India's frustrating medal drought with a dramatic bronze-winning effort on Day 12 of the Rio Olympic Games on Wednesday.
Veteran Indian wrestler Geeta Phogat expressed her desire to make a comeback and represent the country at the Tokyo Olympic Games next year. Geeta, who gave birth to her son in December, said the postponement of the Tokyo Games due to the coronavirus pandemic came as a blessing in disguise for her and will give more time to prepare for the mega-event.
Former India football captain Baichung Bhutia was given the Lifetime Achievement award, while hockey legend and three-time Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Sr was honoured with the Icon of the Century award.
Bajrang Punia stopped using his social media handles and asked fans to keep showing him support as he gets battled ready for the Games
India have done reasonably well in the quadrennial continental event, only twice finishing outside the top eight since hosting the first Asiad in 1951.
India's sports fraternity joined the nation on Sunday in saluting its essential services providers engaged in the fight against COVID-19 by clapping for them and sharing messages and videos of gratitude on social media.
The denial of visa to Pakistani shooters had led to the International Olympic Committee suspending discussions with India for hosting future global events.
Vij said that sportspersons' objection to the government plan is not justified.
Pooja Dhanda, a world championship medallist, said that lack of competition has crippled wrestlers.
Anshu Malik is one of the four Indian woman wrestlers to have qualified for the Olympics
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
India has just 28 Olympic medals to its credit since making a debut back in 1900.
The villagers have pinned their hopes for development on Ravi, whose success has much to do with the sacrifices and moral guidance of one man -- his father Rakesh Kumar Dahiya.
WFI is concerned that the good reputation built over the years with stupendous international performances has been ruined.
Divya Kakran shrugged off a crushing quarter-final defeat to bag the bronze, ensuring that medals continued to come from the wrestling arena even as three other Indians crashed out early at the Asian Games.
Will India finally reach the elusive double-digit mark? Raj Kishore Mishra, former joint secretary at the sports ministry, for one, is willing to stick his neck out on the possibility.
Riding on her bronze medal finish at the Rio Olympic Games, Sakshi Malik entered the top-five in the latest UWW (United World Wrestling) rankings, rising to a career-best 4th position in women's 58kg category. Previously unranked, Sakshi, who became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an olympic medal, claimed the position in the latest list.
Virat Kohli? M C Mary Kom? Neeraj Chopra?
Shrugging off his controversial semi-final defeat, Bajrang Punia bagged his third World Wrestling Championships medal while Ravi Dahiya made his debut memorable by grabbing a bronze.
He will now clash with Switzerland's Stefan Reichmuth for a place in the gold medal match.
Amit Kumar clinched gold in men's 55kg category while three other grapplers bagged a bronze each to end two days of disappointment for India in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi.
It was a celebration of woman power in sports as Olympic stars PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar were on Monday conferred India's highest sporting honour -- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna -- along with shooter Jitu Rai in a gleaming awards ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
Bajrang staged a remarkable comeback to secure a 4-3 win against USA's Jordan Michael Oliver in the summit showdown of the 65kg freestyle category.
Phogat, who will make her MMA debut against South Korea's Kim Nam-hee at One Championship's Age of Dragons event in Beijing on Saturday,
Path-breaking tennis ace Sania Mirza takes pride in the fact that many of India's sporting stars, outside cricket, are women even though she believes that it will take a few more generations before being a sportswoman is seen as a natural career choice in the country. The winner of six Grand Slam titles, spoke on a range of issues including the role of parents and attitude of coaches towards women players during a webinar organised by the All India Tennis Association and the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Indian contingent would be aiming to make it all good with strong medal-winning performances when the acutely-low-on-buzz Commonwealth Games start
