Sharath is the lone Khel Ratna award recipient, 25 sportspersons, including shuttlers Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, track and field athletes Eldhose Paul and Avinash Sable, were conferred with the Arjuna Award.
Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday honoured the former hockey players for their achievements and contribution to the country.
Led by young flag-bearer Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, the athletes, clad in blue suits, waved to the crowd with small flags in their hands.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews conceded that it will be 'very hard to beat India' in the ICC Champions Trophy Group B match in London, on Thursday.
An Olympic campaign saved by the fortitude of three women, a cricket team that rediscovered itself under a bold and zealous Virat Kohli -- Indian sports in 2016 was a dramatic mix of highs and lows wherein athletes mostly raised the bar but administrators found new ways to embarrass the country.
New stars emerged on the horizon in Shubhankar Sharma and Ajeetesh Sandhu even as familiar faces strengthened their stranglehold by picking up their own set of titles in a season of new highs for Indian golf.
He has not been on target for quite some time now and India captain Sardar Singh is itching to get a few in order to end his goal-scoring drought while leading his team Delhi Waveriders in the second edition of cash-rich Hockey India League that starts in Mohali on Saturday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Coach Harendra defends junior players' selection for World Cup
Pakistani and Indian cricket officials will get another opportunity on December 17 to sit across the table and discuss the strained and suspended bilateral cricket ties between the two nations.
Former India captain Jude Felix has been appointed coach of the senior men's hockey team. The Olympian will work under chief coach Terry Walsh, Hockey India said on Wednesday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India will seek the government's clearance to conduct the 2018 Asia Cup, involving Pakistan, in India despite losing the hosting rights of the Under-19 continental event due to Pakistan Cricket Board's objections.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
However, with Khanna's trip being cleared for the upcoming Asia Cup, the questions that are being asked in BCCI headquarters is that COA is applying different yardsticks for different people.
In an encouraging development for the Indian women's hockey team, all the squad members are set to be included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) when the review committee will identify a core group for the government-funded programme, next month.
India might have lost to Pakistan in the summit clash of men's hockey in the 12th South Asian Games but captain Mandeep Antil on Saturday sought to take the positives from the performance of his players, saying they have done well given the inexperience of the team. With the country's top players taking part in the ongoing Hockey India League, India fielded an inexperienced team mostly consisting of junior players and they failed to click as a unit in the SAG. India settled for the silver medal after losing twice to arch-rivals Pakistan, including in the final 0-1 in Guwahati on Friday night. India had just two senior players who had played some international matches in Antil himself and veteran Gurbaj Singh. Even Antil has played just 20-odd international matches while Gurbaj has donned India colours in more than 200 games. Pakistan had at least six players who played in the London Olympics. Antil said he was disappointed to have lost to Pakistan in the final, which he felt was a close match. "Any loss to Pakistan at any level is a disappointment. We wanted to win the gold but we could not do it. We played better (than the group match which also India lost 1-2) and it was a close match but we lost again," Antil told PTI.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Advani conquered the ACBS Asian Snooker events - 6-red (short format) and 15-red (long format) - along with the IBSF World Championships in both formats too.
Openly backing the ISL as the country's elite competition for the first time, the Indian FA (AIFF) said its recommendation was based on the Master Rights Agreement it signed in 2010 with its commercial partners Football Sports Development Limited.
The back to back Test series wins in Australia must rank as Ravi Shastri's greatest achievement as India's coach.
India have won the Asia Cup on seven occasions, Sri Lanka on five occasions, with Pakistan winning it twice.
Pakistan's hopes of an automatic World Cup qualification got tougher after plummeted to their lowest-ever rating of 86 following their five-match ODI series loss against England.
Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes cricketers in India and Pakistan are being denied a chance to experience the historic cross-border sporting rivalry between the two countries due to politics.
Terry Walsh quit as coach of India's men's hockey team on Tuesday after his demands were not met by Hockey India and the Sports Authority of India. The 60-year-old Australian, who guided India to the men's hockey gold at the Incheon Asian Games, however, said he could return if his demands are met.
The fallout of the Pulwama terror attack, which killed over 40 CRPF personnel, on the sporting ties between India and Pakistan was felt the strongest on Friday.
Sania Mirza, who is bidding adieu to the game, says she never had the fear of losing in her heart because it makes a player defensive.
India's boxers Nitu Ghanghas won the women's 48kg Commonwealth Games title before Amit Panghal stormed to the gold medal in the men's 51kg, in Birmingham, on Sunday.
Was it badminton sensation PV Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win the World Championships gold medal? Or is it the young shooting progidy Saurabh Chaudhary? Or his India colleague Elavenil Valarivan, who recently took over as World No 1? What about India's heroes on the cricketing field -- Virat Kohli? Rohit Sharma?
The top Indian players, including Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth have failed to lift the prestigious trophy
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers on the ceicketing legend.
The Western Sydney Wanderers hailed themselves Asia's biggest club after displaying trademark Australian grit to win the AFC Champions League on Saturday, three years after their formation.
The International Cricket Council has admitted that it deliberately tries to put India and Pakistan in the same group at world events as it is hugely important for the success of tournaments.
Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Rana Mujahid is "frustrated" that the national sport is struggling to lure sponsors due to lack of international success in recent years and felt the scene was much better in India.
The legendary M C Mary Kom and former Asian Games gold-medallist Vikas Krishan shone bright at the International Boxing Association's 70th anniversary gala in Montreux, Switzerland, picking up different awards for their performances. While five-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist Mary Kom was presented the AIBA Legends award for her trailblazing boxing career, Vikas was handed the APB (AIBA Pro Boxing) Best Boxer trophy.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Indian hockey captain PR Sreejesh, who played a pivotal role in his side's 2-1 win over Argentina at the Rio Olympics, said it's his job to "give life" to the team in the dying moments of a match. Leading 2-0 with Chinglensana Singh and Kothajit Singh's strikes in the first three quarters, India survived a final-quarter onslaught from Argentina for a nail-biting win to virtually secure a quarterfinal berth at the men's hockey competition.
Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman para-athlete and the oldest to be conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
After the euphoria over winning the gold medal at the Asian Games, Indian hockey suffered a major jolt on Tuesday with the resignation of the team's chief coach, Terry Walsh.
India is just one win away from crowning themselves the ODI world champions after almost 28 years as they clash with an equally determined Sri Lanka in the first all-Asian cricket World Cup summit showdown in Mumbai on Saturday.
