Some stellar performances by seasoned veterans and promising youngsters continued to raise the bar in Olympic sports but there was heartbreak in equal measure when corruption scandals blighted India's favourite obsession, cricket, in a see-saw year for the country's sportspersons.
Four-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be among the few sportspersons who will welcome the Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) for the Delhi Commonwealth Games when it reaches Chennai on Friday.
Veteran forward Arjun Halappa has been appointed captain of the Indian team for next month's Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Malaysia even as drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and Sardara Singh failed to find a place in the list of 45 probables.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign at the Bilbao Final Masters with a crushing win over former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in Bilbao, Spain.
Former hockey Olympian Vece Paes says winning the Asian Games' tournament could kick-start a revival in the team's fortunes.
Indian hockey had something to cheer about as Indian women's hockey team bagged a silver medal in third Asian Champions Trophy after losing to hosts Japan by a solitary goal in the summit clash of the event at Kakamigahara, Japan on Saturday.
Rio Paralympcs silver medallist remains upset over being ignored for Khel Ratna this year and feels exception should have been made by the awards committee, like it had done in 2016.
The current Indian Hockey team has the potential to have a podium finish in the 2012 London Olympics but for this to happen the training system need to change, outgoing chief coach Jose Brasa said.
Tushar Khandker fired in a field goal as India defeated holders South Korea by a solitary goal to win the bronze medal in the men's hockey competition of the Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Young striker Nikkin Thimmaiah scored a hat-trick as India produced their best performance of the tournament to stun world champions and title holders Australia 4-2 on Saturday and secure a place in the third and fourth place play-off at the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Bajrang Punia had won gold medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games last year.
The athletes, Mandeep Kaur, AC Ashwini and Sini Jose, who were part of the 4x400 metres relay gold winning quartet at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, and Jauna Murmu, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas, tested positive positive for anabolic steroids in May and June this year and were suspended, and their Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodnik was sacked.
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Sunday said the government will launch a 'Khelo India' programme at a cost of Rs 1,756 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
India's top sprinter Hima Das, who had a stellar 2018, has been nominated for the prestigious Khel Ratna by the state government of Assam. The 20-year-old from Dhing village in Assam is one of the youngest nominees for Khel Ratna this year.
The hosts will face arch-rivals Pakistan for a place in the final, the latter scoring 4-2 upset win over eight-time champions The Netherlands earlier in the day.
The ace forward said he is fully fit and can withstand the rigours of international hockey.
Surinder Kaur scored a brace in an 8-0 victory in the opening match of the women's hockey tournament at the Afro Asian Games.
After being ignored initially, India's finest defender Dilip Tirkey is among 11 players who were included on Friday in the revised list of probables for major international tournaments for the next four years.
Virat Kohli sent the shutterbugs into a clicking frenzy as he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
Korea beat Pakistan 4-2 to join hosts Malaysia in the semi-finals of the 16th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
A top official from the national federation of a prominent Olympic sport asked if Batra would deem the competition good enough if shooting is brought back into the CWG fold.
Experienced forward Vandana sounded in the 4th and 11th minutes to hand her side a formidable lead early on before Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty corner in the 51st minute to seal the victory.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation dropped Mohammad Saqlain, Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmad, Ghazanfar Ali and Dilawar Hussain for failing to report for a preparatory camp.
The constant change of captain in the Indian hockey team is in bad taste and defies logic, feels Olympian and former India captain Gurbux Singh.
Double defending champions India came up with a spirited display to outclass hosts Malaysia 5-2 and returned back in medal contention in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh.
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.
Pakistan men's team slumped to a new low as it failed to qualify for next year's Rio Olympics.
Under pressure from all quarters after Indian men's hockey team chief coach Terry Walsh's sudden resignation because of a "pay dispute", the Sports Authority of India sprang into action with its DG Jiji Thomson assuring that the matter will "resolved" between the aggrieved parties.
Asked about the areas of improvement, Fulton highlighted that his boys could have received lesser number of cards, besides being more tactically aware of the opposition.
IHF president K P S Gill said they will look at the possibility after assessing the team's performance at the Asian Games.\n
Already assured of a place in the Rio Olympics, Asian Games champions India will start their preparations for the mega-event with the 24th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament where they would face Korea in their opening match in Ipoh on Sunday.
Sandeep Singh fired in two penalty corner goals as India defeated Japan 3-2 to notch up their fourth consecutive win and finish at the top of Group B in the hockey competitions of the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Sunday.
Five goalkeepers, four full backs, 10 mid-fielders and 11 forwards figure in the 30-man list.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Dilip Tirkey scored the solitary goal as India beat China 1-0 in their first match of the Asia Cup.
Using a sledgehammer to fix some ills can cut down a game at its peak, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Belgium stunned six-time champions and title holders Germany 4-3 in the shoot out to progress to their maiden final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow on Friday.
