An obsession with being 'neat, tidy and stylish' almost led her to archery, says world champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who feels a chance meeting with her eventual coach changed her career plans.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand remained tightlipped about his split with Saina Nehwal, saying he doesn't want to talk about the issue as the Asian Games is just round the corner.
India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal has split with National coach Pullela Gopichand and sought the help of former chief coach Vimal Kumar to prepare for the prestigious Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
P V Sindhu stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championships with a straight-games victory over Olga Golovanova of Russia, in Copenhagen, on Wednesday.
World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth overcame some stiff resistance in the second game from lower ranked Mexican rival Lino Munoz before winning his Group H clash in straight games in the badminton singles event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday night.
The 27-year-old London Olympics bronze medallist hard broke a sweat as she cruised past her Swiss opponent 21-11, 21-12 in just 33 minutes at the Emirates Arena.
The sudden postponement of the boxing trials for the Asian Games has left Olympic bronze medallist MC Mary Kom fuming as she termed the last-minute schedule change as highly unprofessional' on the part of the organisers.
The Sports Ministry dropped para-sports coach Satyanarayana from the list of this year's Dronacharya awardees due to a criminal case pending against him, but made no changes to the names recommended for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards.
Photographer HariPrasad captures the quaint village through his lens.
Your weekly round-up of the top tech news.
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
London Olympics bronze medallist MC Mary Kom declared her intention to bow out on a high at the Rio Games in 2016, saying it could be her last tournament.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Sarita (60kg), who was banned for a year due to her emotional outburst at the Asian Games medal ceremony after losing a controversial semi-final bout, returned to the country from the Chinese city of Qian'an on Friday. The Manipuri fought three bouts and won two of them during the competition which featured rivals from hosts China, Korea, Mongolia and Thailand.
The 34-year-old two-time Olympic medallist proved that class is permanent, and that the youngsters still have a long way to go, at least in his weight category -- the men's 74kg freestyle.
Chelsea reached the Champions League knock-out stage on Tuesday despite a 1-0 defeat by Basel in Group E after a late Mohamed Salah goal shocked the 2012 title winners, with Jose Mourinho saying they deserved to lose. Barcelona, without Lionel Messi but already into the last 16, went two goals down in Amsterdam but looked a different side in the second half after Ajax's Joel Veltman was sent off.
Pankaj Advani held his nerve to edge past David Causier of England and enter the final of the World Billiards Championship (Time format) by a mere five points, in Leeds, on Wednesday. Eyeing another grand double (points and time format in the same year) after clinching the 150-up short format title last week, the Indian ace led last year's runner-up by a comfortable 400 points at one stage before settling for a 1180-1175 victory.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered another heart-wrenching defeat against World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to finish as runner-up at the Dubai Super Series Final in Dubai on Sunday.
Fighting for an Olympic ticket on the unfamiliar legal turf, Sushil Kumar's glorious wrestling career may meet an unceremonious end when the Delhi High Court pronounces its verdict on Monday on who gets to board the flight to Rio between him and Narsingh Yadav. An unfavourable verdict for Sushil may not be the end on the legal front as he can still challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. But it could well signal the end of the road for perhaps the greatest Indian Olympian, who won two back-to-back medals. With less than two months left for the Olympics, starting August 5, future look bleak for the unassuming grappler from Haryana whose injuries played a part in the entire sequence of events leading up to Monday. The Delhi High Court, in its last hearing on Thursday, gave clear indications that it was likely to give a judgement in favour of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) in the tiff over selection trials in the men's 74kg freestyle category. The Delhi High court had observed that it did not find "any statutory mandate" to hold trials before the Olympics.
This past week, the Indian hockey team recorded a rare Test series win against world champions Australia. It was a significant achievement by the men in blue - hockey, not cricket - as it was for the first time in four years that India had beaten Australia.
A French court recently sentenced Mohammad Niaz Abdul Rasheed, an Indian national, to eight years in prison for criminal conspiracy.
The sheer diversity of medal winners was a heartwarming aspect of the Games for India. There were medals from squash, although not gold, there were nine medals from boxing, 12 from wrestling, 16 from shooting and nine from weightlifting.
There are still more than nine months to go before the start of the Rio Games but it seems no amount of blood, sweat and tears shed by their rivals in training will be enough to topple the US women's gymnastics team from the top of the Olympic podium.
The UK has relaxed its immigration rules giving greater flexibility to students and businesses that employ and sponsor international migrants.
A day after clinching the 50m pistol gold in the ongoing Asian Games, Jitu Rai said he has not spoken to his mother for the last one month.
The US president's four-day tour will feature talks with British PM Theresa May, tea with the Queen, and mass protests including a giant Trump baby blimp being flown over Westminster.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next play seventh seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, who knocked out two-time defending champion Spain's Carolina Marin 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 in the other quarter-final.
Star gymnast Dipa Karmakar's coach Bisweshwar Nandi has dismissed the notion that it would have been better had the medalists and other top performers at the Rio Games been given financial before their sojourn to Brazil.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu edged past Japan's Nozomi Okuhara to advance to the semi-finals of the All England Championship, in Birmingham, on Friday.
Britain's rise from embarrassing Davis Cup lightweights to title contenders has been nothing short of spectacular and they will begin slight favourites to reach a first final in 37 years against Australia on Friday.
Srikanth or Sindhu? Advani or Kohli? Or will a 21 year old pip the stars? Vote and tell us who your favourite Indian sportsperson of the year is.
The world champions now have 19 points while Poland, 8-1 winners over Gibraltar, are on 17.
Dipa Karmakar's achievement, says Divya Nair, has lessons for us all.
Steve Finn helped England dominate Australia in another Ashes Test at Edgbaston on Friday to take a 2-1 series lead. A day later, there were celebrations across China as Beijing won the rights to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. And, on Sunday, Premier League club Arsenal finally won bragging rights after beating Chelsea 1-0 to clinch the Community Shield to kick-start their season on a positive note. Rediff.com has all this and a lot more action from the week gone by, snapped right here!
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
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.
From the dust and dirt of a warzone to the gleaming uniforms of an army parade -- these are the images that show the reality of life for British servicemen and women. The revealing series of photographs are some of the winning entries in this year's Army Photographic Competition.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances