In a body blow to India's medal prospects in the Commonwealth Games, key sports such as hockey, badminton, wrestling, cricket and shooting have been dropped from the 2026 edition by host city Glasgow, which unveiled a pruned roster of 10 disciplines to keep the event budget-friendly.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam used all her experience to prevail over her team-mate Aditi Swami to advance to the women's compound individual final at the Asian Games.
The 40-year-old Rai has won medals in every championships at the global and continental level but not the Olympics.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Country's archers have proved their mettle at the international level but they tend to choke at the biggest stage.
Former Olympian and World Cup gold medallist Jayanta Talukdar was being treated in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for low oxygen count a week after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Indian women's archery team endured a forgettable outing as they went down 0-6 to the Netherlands in the quarters.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
While a billion hearts would pray for all the participants to do well, all eyes would be set on the duo of Deepika Kumari/Atanu Das, the four shooters and Mirabai Chanu to open India's medals count.
Former World champion Dola Banerjee expects India's archers to break their Olympics medal jinx at the Rio de Janeiro gathering from August 5 to 21.
Handling pressure at the highest level can be tricky for rookies but archers Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur were fortunate to have the seasoned Jyothi Surekha Vennam by their side.
Indian archers would look to make amends for the flop-show in London when they take aim in the 31st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Friday -- archery and football kick-start before the official opening ceremony of the Games.
Top ranked woman recurve archer Deepika Kumari of Jharkhand created another national record when she shot 346 points in women's 50m round in the 34th Senior National Archery Championship at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Women dominated this year's Padma awards for sports with tennis star Sania Mirza and ace shuttler Saina Nehwal getting the nod for the Padma Bhushan, while archer Deepika Kumari was chosen for the Padma Shri in New Delhi, on Monday.
Chess grandmasters resume COVID-delayed tournament in Russia
After failing to secure the team quota at the World Championships in June last year, the Indian women's archery team will have their last shot to secure the full Olympics quota in Paris, as a separate tournament is planned ahead of the World Cup in June next year.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Promising Indian archer Deepika Kumari has made the final of the women's recurve individual event of the World Cup Stage 2 at Antalya. She will face Korea's Lee Sung Jin in the summit clash on Saturday.
Focused on winning their first ever Olympic medal, the Indian archers will skip the much-awaited opening ceremony of the Rio Games on Friday.
It was a none-too-impressive beginning to the Olympic calendar year for Indian archers as they finished with a solitary silver medal in the World Cup Stage I, which concluded in Shanghai on Sunday.
Competing in her third successive Olympics, two-time world No. 1 Deepika has seen it all, from the lows of London to hitting rock-bottom at Rio 2016.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Suspension, internal mudslinging and factionalism overshadowed some stellar performances by Indian archers as the sport went from bad to worse with just a few months left for Tokyo Olympics in an eventful 2019. The biggest blow to Indian archery came in August when World Archery suspended the national federation after two warring groups conducted parallel elections in Delhi and Chandigarh in a clear defiance of the international body's guidelines.
The Indian junior archers capped a stunning show by winning eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals to top the medals tally at the Asia Cup Stage 2 at Sulehmaniya, Iraq on Wednesday.
Verma wins compound individual gold, opens tally for India.
Archery was one discipline which generated a lot of hype in the run-up to the Olympics and the let-down was one of the big blows to India's hit-and-miss overall campaign of one silver and one bronze medal show in Rio 2016.
At a time when his former teammate Sawaiyan Majhi has been appointed Indian recurve coach, the 33-year-old would look to bring his playing career back on track with a second medal from the Asian Games in Indonesia.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
The International Women's Day could not have been more special for Indian archer Deepika Kumari as a documentary on her life 'Ladies First' -- was released for worldwide streaming on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
After a year's delay due to COVID-19, the 19th Asian Games officially opens in Hangzhou on Saturday with hosts China eager to lift a country mired in economic gloom.
Mountaineer Bachendri Pal was, on Friday, conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, while Gautam Gambhir, BajranG Punia and Sunil Chhetri, among others, received the Padma Shri.
Ranked fourth in the qualification round, Deepika found the going tough against the second seed, who produced fine shooting, including a flawless third set to clinch the match 6-0 in her favour.
Deepika managed to stay in the top 10 in the qualification round with a total score of 663.
India's Atanu Das showed fine composure and skill to bounce back from a poor start in his maiden Olympics to finish fifth in the qualification round as archery got the underway at the Rio Olympics in Brazil's historic Samba street in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
