To avoid any controversy on the criteria for the Arjuna award, the Sports Ministry on Friday granted 90 per cent weightage to medal winners at various international championships and sports disciplines covered in the Olympics (Summer, Winter and Paralympics), Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. The guidelines, released by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, will be applicable from 2014.
'Mr. Bhamara would like to state that he was and remains a clean competitor and has always played basketball fairly'
Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
The government has rolled out its ambitious TOP (Target Olympic Podium) Scheme, under which 2016 Olympics medal prospects will be funded for their specialised world class training and top-level competition, and offered ace discus thrower Seema Punia a budget of Rs 75 lakhs till the Rio Games next year.
PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Championships
Indian team doesn't turn up, confusions galore at federation's trials
United World Wrestling (UWW), the world governing body for wrestling, has suspended the Wrestling Federation of India for not conducting its elections on time.
UWW will not interfere in the pending case relating to the alleged sexual harassment of Indian women grapplers by former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh but will "listen to the voices of athletes" if they approach the world body again, its chief Nenad Lalovic said on Monday.
Top woman boxer L Sarita Devi has threatened to return the Arjuna award she was conferred last year and quit representing the country if the 'injustice' of dropping her from the Asian Games squad is not looked into by the sports minister.
India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman's decision to concentrate on the ATP tour at the expense of the upcoming Asian Games has come under sharp criticism from the All India Tennis Federation.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the match was earlier scheduled to be held three days before the IPL, which begins on March 29, but due to operational reasons it is now set to be played after the tournament, which ends on May 24.
The 23-year-old, a bronze-winner in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast earlier this year, shot a score of 564 to finish on top.
He may have missed out on a gold medal by the thinnest of margins, but the ever-smiling Murali Shreeshankar, who won a historic silver medal in men's long jump at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Thursday, says this is just the beginning; he is hungry for more success.
Spinners selected gives us best opportunity to beat India: Ben Stokes
'At the Asian Games I had a dream, to stand on the podium and have the tri-colour hoisted.' 'I missed one thing in Jakarta -- the national anthem being played.' 'I hope to make it happen at the Olympics by winning gold.'
The Sports Ministry has chosen 152 athletes across disciplines for Rs. 50,000 allowance per month for their preparations for next year's Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) qualified for Tokyo Olympics by advancing to the semi-final with a comfortable win over Philippines' Irish Magno, at the Asia/Oceania Qualifiers in Amman, on Monday. World number one Amit Panghal (52kg) qualified for his maiden Olympic Games, while Manish Kaushik (63kg) remained in the hunt for a Tokyo ticket despite losing his quarter-final bout.
Maharaj Kishan Kaushik is back as coach of India's men's hockey team, ten years after the guiding it to the gold medal at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. His selection was finalised at a meeting of the ad hoc committee, set up by the Indian Olympic Association in Delhi, on Tuesday and formally announced on Wednesday. He will be in charge of the team till the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in China.
World No 1 Sania Mirza was, on Monday, named captain of the Indian team for next year's Fed Cup while two six-member squads were announced by the AITA selection panel for the South Asian Games.
India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, TT player Manika Batra and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu were on Tuesday picked for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry's selection committee.
India bagged two medals in Kurash, a form of wrestling indigenous to central Asia, with Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav winning silver and bronze respectively
Nikhat, Lovlina on course for CWG berth
The number of Indian teenagers winning medals at the big stage has gone up exponentially
'We are a team who hate to lose, and we have proven it in recent times. We are working as per the plan'
Yogeshwar Dutt is aiming for a yellow metal at next year's World Championships and thereby earn an automatic berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The current Indian team up is yet to identify its core set for players with the World Cup just weeks away.
After losing seven successive finals, PV Sindhu finally redeemed herself with the gold medal at the World Tour Finals.
Veteran Leander Paes was, on Tuesday, dropped from the Indian Davis Cup squad for the World Group away tie against Serbia scheduled from September 14 to 16.
The World Championship is one of the ten qualifying events for the 2020 Japan Olympics.
With key players -- KL Rahul (thigh) and Shreyas Iyer (lower back) yet to prove their fitness, the BCCI top brass and selectors could opt for safer options that gives them an opportunity to check all available players in the five (six if they reach final) Asia Cup games in Sri Lanka.
Srikanth said winning for the country was a big motivating factor for the team.
Former recipients of the Arjuna award on Tuesday lamented that its dignity has been lowered and the government is now 'throwing' the honour away.
Bajrang Punia met Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and said he has been assured that his case will be looked into.
Olympian B P Govinda was named chairman of Hockey India's nine-member selection committee on Friday.
India clinched a comfortable five-wicket win over Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series.
Legendary athlete P T Usha expressed hope that her student Tintu Luka would win gold medal in the 800 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year.
India had exceeded expectations at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia by winning three gold, a couple of silver and three bronze medals.
Former India hockey captain Sardar Singh claimed that former coach Sjoerd Marijne and current high performance director David John forced him to make a shock retirement in September.
'I was expecting that (Khel Ratna) but there were other deserving athletes. It is fine. I will continue to strive for it'
Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has promised "surgical" precision in distribution of funds to athletes preparing for the 2020 Olympic Games, asserting that centralisation of the process has made bureaucratic hurdles a thing of past.
