Organisers of the 2016 Olympics have acknowledged there are issues to be resolved in preparing Rio de Janeiro to host the event but said on Wednesday they were making progress and would deliver a 'great Games'.
As we prepare to cruise into the New Year, Rediff.com gives you a glance back, through photos, into all the sporting moments that made the last 12 months memorable.
'We are trying passionately to protect those clean athletes who are going to Rio 2016'
With eight gold medals, Indian men's hockey team has been the most successful side in Olympic history but since the 1980 Moscow Games, the country has not had a podium finish.
American teenager Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Saturday, holding her nerve to clinch the women's 10m air rifle event.
The Russian athletes say they are being punished despite having competed without doping and that they should be eligible to race at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month.
America's teenager Missy Franklin dominated the headlines last week. Also Barcelona's 'soccer clinic' for peace garnered enough attention. But what caught us unaware was mixed martial arts. Rediff.com gives a quick tour through BEST Photos of the Week!
With the much-awaited Olympic Games getting underway next week, the Indian contingent members have begun trickling into the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro.
In the full decision posted on CAS's website and made public on Wednesday, CAS said Sun Yang had sought to shift blame to testers and his entourage and taken no responsibility for his actions.
The 22-year-old former junior world champion recorded 236.7 in the eight-women final of the season's fourth World Cup for pistol and rifle shooters.
The Australian Olympic team refused to move in to Rio de Janeiro's village for athletes on Sunday, saying the accommodation was "not safe or ready" for next month's games."
Brazilian Minister of Sports George Hilton says everything is on track for the 2016 Rio Games.
Brazil's Olympic soccer team trained in the headlights of a lorry on Monday after the floodlights failed at their training ground, local news media reported.
A series of recent scandals engulfing officials working on the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Games
Brazil forward Neymar has been ruled out of the Copa America after suffering a serious ankle injury in a 2-0 friendly win over Qatar.
Come August and the world's finest athletes from 206 countries will be out to prove their best at the Olympics.
As 2013 nears its end, rediff.com presents a selection of the most enduring images of year from around the world
2020 Olympic medals to be made from 'recycled' mobiles
Rio de Janeiro shows why it is regarded as the Carnival Capital of the World.
Russia was stripped of their women's 4 x 400m relay silver medal from the London 2012 Olympics after Antonina Krivoshapka tested positive for drugs in the re-testing of her sample, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.
Twice Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva will stand in the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) presidential election this year, she said on Wednesday.
Will the German discipline take them to the final? Will Brazil be able to overcome the loss of Neymar Jr.? Will Argentina move its game to the next level for the semi-final? Or would the Dutch shrug off a bad day at work to reach the final again and get a shot at redemption?
World No 1 Rafael Nadal beat Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 (3) to claim the Rio de Janeiro Open on Sunday.
Spain and World No 1 Rafael Nadal visited the popular Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio before the Rio Open tennis tournament.
Small skirmishes between police and protesters did little to disrupt the festive atmosphere around the close of a major international soccer tournament that has been the backdrop for the biggest mass demonstrations to sweep Brazil in 20 years.
As Brazil gears up to host the FIFA World Cup 2014 starting on June 12, lets take a closer look at the biggest football tournament.
After sparking controversy with his late-night antics following his triumphant Rio Olympics campaign, legendary Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt seems ready to settle down as he strongly hinted that he has proposed to long-term girlfriend Kasi Bennett.
More than 100 Russian Paralympians have individually filed cases to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in order to be allowed to compete at next month's Games in Rio, Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) Vice President Pavel Rozhkov said on Tuesday. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week rejected an RPC appeal against the suspension which was handed out by the IPC because of Russia's state-sponsored sports doping programme.
India is the chair of Convention on Biological Diversity till 2014. India has the chance to lead the world with setting high standards on biodiversity protection within India and with operations outside. We should also shift our energy paradigm slowly away from dirty destructive practice of coal mining into cleaner sources of energy, says Nandikesh Sivalingam.
Argentina and Brazil are traditional rivals and there was a time when their antagonism was being compared to India-Pakistan relations. They have overcome to a great extent their history of hostility. That an Argentinean Pope was so warmly embraced in Brazil shows that his great office does transcend such divides, notes B S Prakash, India's former ambassador to Brazil.
The Indian combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa disappointed in their opening outing in the women's doubles at the Rio Olympics badminton event, losing in straight games to the world No. 1 Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto on Thursday.
Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal finished fourth in the quarter-finals of the men's single sculls to be out of medal reckoning in the Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. Bhokanal clocked 6:59.89 to cover a distance of 2000m, little more than six seconds behind the third and last qualifier from the quarterfinal 4, Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk (6:53.52) from Poland.
"I'm happy but wish I could have done a bit better. In practice, I perform way better than this," Dipa karmakar said.
French gymnast Samir Ait Said discovered the perils of pursuing his Olympic dreams when he suffered a broken leg that was left dangling from below his knee following a crash landing from the vault during men's qualifying at the Rio Games 2016, in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
Buoyed by India's best-ever performance at the World Championships, Olympic heroes Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt today vowed to settle for nothing less than atleast five medals in the next edition at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Athletes capable of adapting to uncertainty amid the coronavirus outbreak will be best placed to succeed at the Tokyo Olympics, India's sole individual Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra said. Known for his Zen-like poise and attention to minute details in preparation, Bindra, who won shooting gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing, said adaptability is key for athletes training to excel in Tokyo amid concerns about the virus.
Jamaica's Usain Bolt has landed in Rio de Janeiro more than a week before the Olympics opening ceremony to fine tune his preparations for his attempt at an unprecedented triple-triple of gold medals in the men's sprints.
Olympic champion and world number one Serena Williams tumbled out of the Rio de Janeiro singles competition in the third round on Tuesday after a shock defeat to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
The Statue of Unity will be double the height of the Statue of Liberty in the USA and five times taller than the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The construction is estimated to cost Rs 2063 crore, and will be completed in four years.
'Sport is cruel, as is life, which is why winning becomes sweet.'
