This and more from the happenings in the world of footbal.
Former Costa Rican midfielder Alexandre Guimaraes has been named head coach of Mumbai City FC, for the third season of the Indian Super League.
Ashish Nehra has contributed significantly to the Indian team's recent success in Twenty 20s, and the old warhorse says he is enjoying his role of a mentor in the fast bowling department.
His tunnel vision on the 'process' is legendary in Indian cricket and U-19 chief coach Rahul Dravid's next aim is to see a few of the World Cup-bound colts included in the 'A' team within the next six to eight months.
India's number one singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat Jay Clarke of Great Britain in straight sets to enter the main draw of the Miami Open, on Wednesday.
Lazio won 2-0 at Legia Warsaw on Thursday to qualify for the Europa League knockout stages after a tie marred by violence when Italian fans fought with Polish police on the way to the stadium.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar bagged India's 13th Olympic quota in shooting with a bronze medal in men's 50m rifle 3 positions at the 14th Asian Championship.
Shiva Keshavan reveals why he feels 'stabbed in the back' after giving his all for the country for 20 years and what keeps him going despite all the recent problems affecting him.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
In the Diamond League Final, he will face the world's best in the event, including Olympic champion Thomas Roehler of Germany and last year's winner, Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic.
Tatsuma Ito and Michal Przysiezny claimed the biggest wins of their careers at the Japan Open on Tuesday when the local wildcard knocked out top seed Stan Wawrinka and the Polish qualifier saved match points to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
'The way we are playing now, if we continue to play the same hockey, no one can stop us from standing on the podium in Tokyo.'
As per the Indian Olympic Association's regulations, only those national teams which are ranked between 1-8 at the continental level, are cleared for the Games.
Bangladesh spinners, led by Shakib Al Hasan, guided their side to a thumping nine-wicket win against Afghanistan in their Qualifying Group A match of the ICC World T20 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. Later, Debutants Nepal produced a dominating all-round performance to crush Hong Kong by 80 runs in another qualifying Group A match.
Mithali Raj will come out with her autobiography next year which will provide a candid and revealing look into her personal and sporting life.
For Indian hockey, 2016 was a year in which much was promised and achieved as well. It was also a year where India made significant and visible advancements but deep down somewhere the pain of missing out on an Olympic medal will remain for four more years.
Australia has welcomed the idea of possibly competing at the Asian Games after Asian Olympic officials agreed to let Oceania nations join them in smaller multi-sports events.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Five months before the Olympics opening ceremony in Tokyo, health authorities around the world are scrambling to contain outbreaks of the flu-like virus which has infected about 80,000 and killed more than 2,700 people, the vast majority in China.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The 20-year-old Indian, who was competing in the season's Diamond League Series Finale just three days after winning Asian Games gold in Jakarta, sent the spear to a best distance of 85.73m to end at fourth position in the eight-man event.
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.
An ambitious project to awaken a sleeping giant of Asian soccer looks like confirming Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's famous remark that India pricks up its ears only when comparisons with China are made. With China embarked on a multi-billion dollar mission to become a soccer superpower by 2050, India looks set to follow suit with its own plan to raise its status in the game to match its burgeoning economic power. Come October, India, most famously described as soccer's sleeping giant by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, will launch a programme to engage more than 11 million children in soccer-related activities.
10 all-rounders who may leave a mark on the World T20.
Achanta Sharath Kamal is hopeful that India will finish on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
India's top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu is hoping funds sanctioned to her by the government as part of its TOP scheme for her Olympic preparations are released on time. "Going into the Olympics, I hope that the funds meant for my preparation will be released on time so that my training doesn't suffer. There are lot of paperwork, it's a long process normally. OGQ has been doing a lot too," Sidhu said on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi on Thursday. The current world record holder and former world No. 1 secured an Olympic quota for the country in January after she led from start to claim gold medal in women's 10-m air pistol at the last Asia Olympic Qualifiers for Shooting. Asked about her preparation, she said," I am just following the process. This is not the time to make changes in your game. There will be a test event in Rio in April, and I will get an understanding after that if I need to make any minor adjustments or not. The climate in India and Brazil are similar."
India will host its first WTA tournament in five years when the city of Mumbai stages a $ 125,000 event in November, giving home players an opportunity to compete with the world's top-50.
Ambani's holding group launched the Indian Super League, an elite competition of newly created teams, in 2014 with the aim of attracting investment and big global names, much like the Indian Premier League has in cricket. 'It was 100% a wasted opportunity'.
As the year 2016 draws to a close, vote for the best Indian sportsperson of the year.
'Team India's strategy -- rather the lack of it -- boomeranged in the game against New Zealand. It's because of the T20 generation's lack of patience to counter spin,' feels Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com
Football legend Pele described the FIFA corruption scandal as a "shame", but made it clear that the reputation of the game was not tarnished.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Looking back at the year 2016, Indian Davis Cupper Saketh Myneni says he is very happy with the progress he has made in the last eight to nine months.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Leander Paes... Sania Mirza... Pankaj Advani.. Saina Nehwal... Ravichandran Ashwin... Anirban Lahiri... Vijender Singh... Who is India's Sportsperson of 2015?
Ramkumar Ramanathan's good run at the Chennai Open continued as he combined with compatriot N Sriram Balaji to knock out fourth seeded Kiwi pair of Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniel on Wednesday and storm into the doubles quarter-finals.
The women's team comprising Joshana Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal Karthik, Sunayana Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna continued its unbeaten run, defeating China 3-0 in penultimate pool match.
