While there is no imminent threat to the AFC Asian Cup participation by the senior men's team in late 2023 or early 2024, some of the games slated for clubs and age-group national teams in the next few months could well be a tricky terrain.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Binny and Shukla travelled to Pakistan following an invitation to members of the Asian Cricket Council
Aruna Budda Reddy today created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to win an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cup as she clinched a bronze in the women's vault event in Melbourne.
The Indians started brightly and earned a couple of penalty corners and from one such situation, Sharmila Devi gave her side the lead in the 13th minute, scoring from a rebound after Gurjit Kaur's initial flick was saved by the Chinese defence.
The Azlan Shah Cup is the latest sporting event to be hit by the deadly coronavirus, which has claimed more than 3,000 lives and infected 86,000 people across the world.
Bhaskar Bhatt has quit as the head coach of the Indian women's boxing team to concentrate on his new role as the high performance director at the Sports Authority of India.
National coach Bob Houghton termed India's AFC Challenge Cup victory as the culmination of a determined effort by his charges and the football establishment to reach the Asian elite stage. By winning Asia's second tier tournament after a 4-1 thrashing of defending champions Tajikistan, India qualified for the 2011 Asian Cup. Houghton said his charges were the deserving winners.
India suffered their second defeat in three matches in the Asian zone Group 3 first round, losing 0-7 in Saitama, Japan.
Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri feels that his club making it to the summit clash of the AFC Cup heralds a beginning in the revival of Indian football. Bengaluru take on Iraq's Al Quwa Al Jawiya in Saturday's final at the Qatar SC Stadium in Doha. "Bengaluru reaching the AFC Cup final in the host country of the 2022 World Cup, and hopefully winning it, has signaled the beginning of the revival of Indian football as an Asian power," said Chhetri who is also the India captain.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumar shrugged off her poor run of form by clinching gold medal in the women's recurve event at the World Cup (Stage-3) in Salt Lake City.
The Indian women's hockey team will return to the Olympics after a long gap of 36 years as it qualified for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Saturday, after England made it to the final of the ongoing EuroHockey Championships in London.
'Cricket as a pathway in the US was not something people thought about 10 years ago, even like five years ago.' 'But now that there is a pathway you can see.'
India's Avinash Sable qualified for the final of the men's 3000m steeplechase under dramatic circumstances after he initially failed to make the cut despite bettering his own national record in an eventful race in the World Championships.
Laggards in international rankings, India finally made their presence felt by pulling off an impressive under-17 World Cup that drew all-round praise even though the country was eliminated in the very first round.
Chhetri has played for India 142 times and has scored 92 goals, the most by an Indian. He is also currently the third most prolific scorer in international football among active players, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
India's Deepika Kumari and Anikita Bhakat won the gold and silver medals respectively in the women's individual recurve event of the 21st Asian Archery Championships in Bangkok on Thursday.
Manu Bhaker claimed the gold medal in the women's 10am air pistol, while birthday boy Deepak Kumar gifted himself a bronze medal in men's 10m air rifle at the 14th Asian Championship.
Mary was back in her preferred 48kg category as she overcame the challenge from younger competitors to make it to the Indian team for the marquee continental event, which is to be held from November 2 to November 11 in the Ho Chi Minh City.
Gymnast Dipa Karmakar would be aiming to put behind the injury-marred disaster that was the Asian Games when she aims for a positive start to her Olympic qualification bid with the World Cup of Artistic Gymnastics.
The stunning performance earned Parul her second medal in Hangzhou after claiming a silver in the women's 3000m Steeplechase on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Indian women's team totalled 337 to take home the silver medal behind China's Qingnian Li, Cuicui Wu and Xinqiu Zhang, who combined to shoot a world and games record score of 357 to finish on top of the podium.
Striker Luis Suarez scored twice as 2010 World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay beat Peru 2-1 on Friday to improve their chances of reaching the Brazil finals next year.
Lakshya had struggled through much of 2023 and early part of 2024. He fell behind in the qualification race but turned things around in time with two semi-final finishes at the All England Championship and the French Open to seal his place in the Olympics.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Rahi Sarnobat, on Wednesday, became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Asian Games gold medal as she triumphed after prevailing in a double shoot-off in the 25m pistol event in Palembang.
The ban results from a penalty Lamptey awarded to South Africa in a 2-1 win over Senegal in a 2018 World Cup qualifier in November.
The Indian football team achieved its best-ever FIFA ranking in over two decades as it jumped to 101 in the latest list released on Thursday.
He was clearly disappointed to miss out the Indian Open title, but star Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on Sunday said "losing is better than winning always" and hoped the defeat in the final will spur him and his doubles partner Chirag Shetty to win a bigger crown in coming days.
Experienced Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh will make his fifth appearance at the US Open next week after Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee withdrew due to personal reasons.
FIFA vice president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein has criticised soccer's world governing body FIFA for banning Iraq from hosting home internationals and called upon the organisation to do more for supporters in the Middle East.
Debutants Oman dished out a resolute batting effort to register a nerve-wracking, two-wicket win over experienced Ireland in their Group A qualifying match of the ICC World Twenty20, in Dharamsala on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old golfer is the fifth and the youngest Indian to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
All it takes is a measuring tape to explain why India is a dwarf among giants dominating international soccer, critics of the national team say.
India held Oman to a goalless draw in the Asian Zone Group 3 tie of the Asian 2006 football World Cup qualifiers.
Yokohama beat Shandong to book Asian Champions League last 16 berth
India beat Chinese Taipei to take the bronze and clinch a place in the World Youth Cup.
India were drawn against their Pakistan for an away Asia-Oceania Zone Group 1 fixture.
Saurabh Chaudhary shot 16 in the gold medal contest to finish ahead of Germany's Michael Schwald (6).
