With a rape case going on against him, he happens to be jobless, having being sacked as assistant coach from the Sports Authority of India last year.
An unprecedented seven Indian shuttlers are set to qualify for the Olympics Games at Rio de Janeiro when the official BWF rankings are released on Thursday.
Bajrang Punia's bid to become only the second Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championship fell flat, as a tactically superior Takuto Otoguro stunned the Indian in the 65kg final, in Budapest, on Monday.
One of the two wrestlers in a medal contention, the 24-year-old Pooja executed a four-point throw in each of the two periods in the 57kg contest to deliver the best performance of her career.
...Set house in order soon or Indian archers will compete under world body flag
The Wrestling Federation of India issued show cause notice to four wrestlers, including the Phogat sisters - Babita Kumari and Geeta - and handed them temporary suspension for indiscipline.
Philem Dipak Singh traces Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's rise to Olympic glory.
India's P V Sindhu hopes no one will ever question her ability to win big titles, relieved at breaking the finals jinx with a historic triumph at the World Tour Finals in Guangzhou.
India has just 28 Olympic medals to its credit since making a debut back in 1900.
Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra shot 208.9 to win the gold medal in the 10 meter air rifle event while Vijay Kumar had to be content with silver in the centre fire event on the concluding day of the 57th National Shooting championship, in New Delhi.
Women archers were on target in the individual events, while Manoj Kumar scripted a triumph of the underdog in the boxing ring on the fifth day of the Rio Games.
Indian boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav is setting his eyes on a gold medal in the third Olympics of his life in Tokyo
Indians had a disappointing outing on the opening day of the track and field events at the Rio Olympics, Vikas Gowda, Manpreet Kaur and Jinson Johnson failing to progress to the next round, on Friday.
Still grappling with a knee injury, Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning shuttler P Kashyap's chances of qualifying for the Olympics have all but ended as he has been forced to withdraw from this month's Malaysia Super Series Premier and Singapore Open.
Star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt heaved a sigh of relief after clinching a spot for the World Championships by beating Amit Kumar Dhankhar, who had gone to court last year against the Olympic medallist alleging favouritism.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was on Saturday recommended for the coveted Khel Ratna Award by the committee constituted by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the third time in a row. The 22-year-old Chopra is the only track and field athlete to be recommended by the AFI for the country's highest sports award this year.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
This time, India may win as many as 17 medals at the Games.
Shuttler P V Sindhu scripted a new chapter in Indian Olympic history with unprecedented feat but the embattled Narsingh Yadav's dreams lay in tatters after being slapped with a four-year doping ban on a bitter-sweet day for the country at the Rio Games.
Asked to board the flight for the Asian Games despite some family members reportedly missing in the wake of the Kerala floods, debutant long-jumper M Sreeshankar said he can finally focus on the job at hand after his grandfather and uncle were traced.
Monday's ruling cleared the way for the 19-year-old to compete again in both domestic and international events after she was forced to sit out for about a year.
Having slumped in the rankings, champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap tells Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com how he plans to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
The high court had on September 23 stayed the TTFI's rule mandating compulsory attendance at the National Coaching Camp for selection in international events and had asked the Centre to conduct an inquiry into Batra's complaint against the sports body. On Friday, the court was informed by the Centre's counsel Apoorv Kurup that the enquiry report was ready and the judge asked them to file it in a sealed cover before it.
Seeking to steer clear of the furore that was triggered by Saina Nehwal's open displeasure at being ignored for the Padma awards, ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang said he would prefer to wait for the government to take a call on such matters.
Determined to keep the Olympic dream alive despite the long-standing administrative mess, a spirited Indian boxing team, featuring the likes of M C Mary Kom and Shiva Thapa, will take off on Monday night for the Asian Qualifiers in Qian'an City, China. Ten men and three women form the 13-strong team which will be in action from March 25. In the men's competition, only the top three boxers in each weight category will make the Olympic cut with the third spot decided via a box-off between the two bronze-medallists. In the women's draw, only the gold and silver medal winners will qualify for Rio de Janeiro. In the absence of a recognised federation, the Indians will once again compete under the flag of the International Boxing Association (AIBA). "It is going to be a very tough tournament because not many from the Asian region qualified during last year's World Championships. I am expecting around 30 countries and more than 250 boxers to be there at this event," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told PTI ahead of the team's departure.
'Experience is important. But if you work hard, you can improve faster. There is a three-month gap now and we will look to train harder and improve our fitness for Olympics' 'I think we need to cut down simple errors on court and not give away easy points. We have got to work hard each day without thinking about the results, as giving our best is in our hands'
Bitter about the administrative mess which he feels cost him a medal at the Rio Olympics, pugilist Manoj Kumar says Indian boxing is on death bed right now and desperately needs intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I am sure that I would have won a medal if India was not suspended from the International Boxing Association (AIBA).] "Had the first round in that pre-quarterfinal bout gone in my favour, the result would have been different," Manoj told PTI in an interview.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
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.
When Bisweshwar Nandi caught his first glimpse of the Olympic rings after touching down in Rio with his gymnastics protege Dipa Karmakar, he felt an instant surge of adrenaline.
Indian shooter Manu Bhaker won gold in women's 10m Air Pistol in Youth Olympics on Tuesday.
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
Neeraj is currently ranked fourth in the new rankings of the international federation.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Indian boxer Pavitra (60kg) advanced to the quarter-finals of the Asian Games after out-classing Pakistan's Rukhsana Perveen in a bout that did not go beyond the opening round, in Jakarta, on Saturday.
Check out India's schedule on Day 9 of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Friday.
'We need to invest in our youth, we need to invest on our athletes, that should be the priority and then when we are in a position to realistically win at least 40 gold medals in the Olympic Games. For me personally that would be the right moment to host an Olympic Games'
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday