This year a whopping 74 winners were picked for the national honours, including an unprecedented five Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratnas and 27 Arjuna awardees.
Goalkeeper Savita produced a stunning save in a tense shootout as India won the Asia Cup to secure qualification in next year's hockey World Cup following a nerve-wracking win over China in the final on Sunday.
The Hockey India League's Mini Players auction will feature 95 Indians, including promising forwards such as Ramandeep Singh and Affan Yousuf, when it is conducted here on November 18.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined religious and community leaders at an emotional vigil on Sunday night to honor the 15 members of a junior ice hockey team killed in a bus crash that shocked the hockey-loving nation.
Skipper Rani Rampal and defender Gurjit Kaur struck a brace each as Indian women hockey team thrashed Spain 4-1 in the fifth and final match to level the series 2-2.
SV Sunil's oodles of experience came in handy as his 59th minute strike enabled India to pip a gritty Wales 4-3 in their second Pool B encounter at the Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast.
Ace midfielder Sardar Singh will lead a full strength Indian men's hockey team in the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia from April 5 to 12.
The other Indian shuttlers who participated in the singles events of the Super 1000 tournament have already left Thailand while the doubles players will fly out on Monday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Dozens of Japanese towns have abandoned plans to host Olympic athletes because of concern they will overburden stretched medical resources amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
Veteran midfielder Sardar Singh on Saturday returned to the national team as Hockey India named a strong 18-member squad under the captaincy of Manpreet Singh for the Asia Cup to be held in Dhaka from October 11-22.
India staged a grand recovery to defeat England 4-3 and take the top spot in Pool B of the men's hockey tournament at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. England finished second.
The Brazilian, the only player to claim three World Cup winner's medals and a man often called the greatest footballer of all time, said all monies raised will help Brazil's fight against and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Hockey legend Ashok Kumar reckons India would have won a medal had the Olympics been held this year but the break in momentum will make a big difference now that the Games are pushed to 2021.
The BJP's bucket list this time includes districts such as Sultanpur, Aligarh, Firozabad, Deoband, Ghazipur, Basti and Mirzapur -- to rename a few. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
In a country that is often focused on the ways in which it falls short, the start of a year is a good time to remind oneself of such positives, observes T N Ninan.
Former captain Sardar Singh was brought back to bolster the Indian hockey team's mid-field while Birendra Lakra was included to shore up the defence line-up for the upcoming Champions Trophy, beginning on June 23 in Breda, The Netherlands.
Senior drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and forward Shivendra Singh today returned to the Indian men's hockey team for the FIH World League Round 3 (semi-finals) to be held at Rotterdam, The Netherlands from June 13-23.
Late strikes from Nick Wilson (67th min) and Ashley Jackson (69th min) helped Ranchi Rhinos beat Uttar Pradesh Wizards 3-1 in a Hockey India League match at the Astroturf Hockey stadium in Ranchi.
Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan has refused to follow in the footsteps of Pakistan Hockey Federation which announced this week that it would boycott future international events in India.
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.
Leaking late goals has been something of an Achilles' heel for the Indian hockey team but captain Sardar Singh believes his team have addressed the issue as they head to Rio looking for the country's first Olympic medal in 36 years. Once-mighty India are the most decorated nation in the sport's Olympic history but the South Asians collected the last of their eight gold medals way back at the Moscow Games in 1980. Having failed to qualify for the Beijing Games in 2008, the team representing a nation of 1.3 billion people did recover to seal a spot at the London Games four years later only to finish last among the 12 countries taking part.
Mid-fielder Ritu Rani was on Tuesday named captain of 18-member Indian hockey team for the sixth Junior Women's Asia Cup to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from June 27.
Triple Olympic gold winner hockey player Leslie Claudius has been hospitalised with abnormal fluid retention problem.
India coach Jose Brasa said the team missed suspended forward Shivendra Singh but had no qualms in admitting that his wards were completely outpaced and outplayed by a vastly superior Australian side in the hockey World Cup at the Dhyan Chand National stadium on Tuesday.
'Due to the ongoing pandemic and lockdown, we the sports bodies are unlikely to get any sponsorship and hence we may find it very difficult to restart our activities effectively'
Prabhjot Singh (6th minute), Shilanand Lakra (15th, 43rd), Harmanjit Singh (21st), Mohd Faraz (23rd), Abhishek (50th) and skipper Mandeep Mor (60th) were the goal scorers for India.
Star forward Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh helped home side Sher-e-Punjab build a comfortable lead before they were forced to settle for a 3-3 draw with undefeated Pune Strykers in the World Series Hockey at the Surjit Hockey stadium on Sunday.
Promising India forward Yuvraj Walmiki has been ruled out of the remainder of the men's Olympic hockey qualification tournament due to a hamstring injury. He sustained the injury during India's third round-robin match against France on Tuesday and did not play in the hard-fought 3-2 win over Canada on Wednesday night.
International Hockey Federation president Leandro Negre expects India to be a force to reckon with in the upcoming Junior World Cup, but said it won't be easy for the hosts to win the tournament, in Delhi, from December 6-15.
If you don't have power in a game you are masters of, the world will walk all over you, notes Shekhar Gupta.
A resurgent Indian hockey team, with its penetrative attack and solid defence, can actually challenge for the top spot in the Champions Trophy.
'Let the Congress high command decide who will replace Captain Amarinder because they are far wiser than I am.'
Indian hockey captain PR Sreejesh, who played a pivotal role in his side's 2-1 win over Argentina at the Rio Olympics, said it's his job to "give life" to the team in the dying moments of a match. Leading 2-0 with Chinglensana Singh and Kothajit Singh's strikes in the first three quarters, India survived a final-quarter onslaught from Argentina for a nail-biting win to virtually secure a quarterfinal berth at the men's hockey competition.
After a barren first quarter, Manpreet scored in the 21st and 26th minutes while drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty corner in the 36th as India registered their second consecutive win of the tournament.
Norway nabbed the first gold medal of the Winter Games on Saturday
The Indian men's hockey team coach Paul van Ass says he is focussing on improving the technical skills of the players ahead of the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be played at Ipoh, Malaysia from April 5-12.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
