One of India's strongest Olympic medal hopes, ace shooter Manu Bhaker feels preparations 'cannot get better' than the ongoing training-cum-competition tour of Croatia as she works on her consistency ahead of the Tokyo Games.
Olympic champions the United States reclaimed their women's 4x400m relay world title as Jamaica suffered more injury heartbreak in the World Championships final on Sunday.*
Sweden's Armand Duplantis broke his own men's pole vault world record on Monday, soaring 6.19 metres on his third attempt at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting in a performance he could only describe as "perfection".
As another eventful year draws to a close, Rediff.com gives you a pictorial look back at the best and worst moments that shaped the sports stories this year.
Klitschko and his brother Vitali, also a former world heavyweight champion and now the mayor of Kyiv, have both taken up arms against invading Russian forces.
Hansle Parchment of Jamaica was second in 13.03 and Olympic champion and world record holder Aries Merritt claimed bronze in 13.04 seconds.
Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba eased through to the finals of the women's 5,000 metres on Thursday to stay on course for a world athletics championships double, while American Brittney Reese saw her six-year long jump reign end.
The Bavarians, unbeaten now in 32 consecutive matches, also won the domestic league and Cup double as well as the Champions League after Flick took over last November. Their last defeat dates back to December, 2019.
'The Olympic Spirit has been thrown to the wind in Xi Jinping's China.' 'The International Olympic Committee is ready to kowtow to totalitarian China,' notes Claude Arpi.
Another win would confirm that Barca are heading in the right direction after pushing the reset button following the loss of Lionel Messi in the close season due to their financial problems.
World Archery said that the dates if any event will be announced no later than two months in advance to allow athletes time to prepare.
Twice Olympic 800 metres finalist Donato Sabia has died from COVID-19 at the age of 56, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said on Wednesday. CONI said in a statement that Sabia had been in the intensive care unit of the San Carlo hospital on Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, for "a few days."
'The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.'
Ukraine had said the shirt was a symbol of national unity, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted a selfie on Instagram with the jersey on this week.
'...I believe this is just the beginning for me and there is a long way to go ... many more medals to win for India.'
Russia was banned from taking part in or hosting world championships, including the World Cup as part of doping sanctions imposed by WADA.
Belgium captain Eden Hazard and playmaker Kevin de Bruyne are still doubtful for their European Championship quarter-final against Italy.
With 100 days until the start of the Winter Olympics, Beijing is promising a "simple and safe" 2022 Games - although preparations are anything but simple as China readies to host thousands of athletes and personnel as it battles COVID-19 flare-ups.
The rules mean Caster Semenya and other athletes with DSD hoping to compete at the World Championships in Doha in September would have to start taking medication to lower their testosterone levels within one week.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Olympic-bound long jumper Murali Sreeshankar on Saturday said he is working on his technical flaws and is hoping to take part in competitions abroad once the current travel restrictions on Indians are eased.
Bulgaria's weightlifters will be absent from next year's Olympics after the sport's governing body banned the country's athletes following a high number of doping cases, it said on Friday.
It was supposed to be a happy journey to London, one that the Imam family had been planning for the past two months. Everything was set - except the visa, which did not arrive in time for one of its members. "Visa was the villain...As a consequence, half of the family of four will be in London today and the other half at home in India and the US, respectively," Sanjar Imam, director of travel firm Panache World, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Japan on Friday extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by about three weeks to June 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of easing less than two months before the Summer Olympics open.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
From sharing medals to defections to gestures on the medals podium to punching horses, the Tokyo Olympics had it all.
Japan won't allow its reputation to be dented by calling off the Games at this late stage, argues Raj Kishore Mishra, former joint secretary at the sports ministry.
Lausanne-based FINA had to move the championships because the 2021 slot of July 16 to August 1 clashed with the new date for the Tokyo Games, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russian Grand Prix organisers said on Thursday they were open to hosting two back-to-back races in Sochi this season to help Formula One flesh out a calendar reduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sochi, with a circuit winding around the Olympic Park used for the 2014 Winter Games, is due to host the Russian Grand Prix on September 27 although that stage of the calendar remains uncertain.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is not fit for purpose and should be replaced, Britain's double Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson has said following its decision last month to lift a ban on Russia's anti-doping body.
A 15-member squad of Indian shooters, who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, departed for Zagreb, Croatia, for training ahead of the Games.
The NRAI said that it made arrangements for a chartered flight for the entire squad to fly to Zagreb
Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus consolidated their top-flight leads at the weekend while Paris St Germain proved too strong for Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Marseille.
Former women's hockey team chief coach Sjoerd Marijne's 'full and final' salary was stopped on the recommendations of Hockey India after he was denied a 'No Objection Certificate' for failing to return his official laptop, which, according to the Dutchman, is on its way to India now.
'Football is in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both Presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace.'
Bulgarian triple jumper Gabriela Petrova had her doping suspension lifted by the IAAF on Monday, less than a week after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced an amnesty for athletes who had tested positive for meldonium before March 1.
Max Verstappen was named the 2022 Laureus Sportsman of the Year while Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah bagged the top women's honour
The European, American and final world qualifying boxing tournaments for the Tokyo Olympic Games were suspended on Monday due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the International Olympic Committee said. The IOC said the European qualifier in London, which was already under way and due to run to March 24, would end after Tuesday's evening session. It said it would provide details on the qualification process for the other regions at a later date.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Spain are still favourites to finish top of Group E above Sweden, Poland and Slovakia but, after struggling to break down conservative sides such as Georgia and Greece in March, they know coming first will not be a procession.
