From Covid-19 essentials, such as Vitamin C supplements and thermometers, to bicycles, laptops, and personal weighing scales, demand for certain items galloped during last financial year as the pandemic altered what Indians used on a day-to-day basis. Imports of outdoor sports equipment, handbags for women, and dentures, among others, plummeted. With outdoor activities coming to a halt last year and schools functioning virtually, imports of sports goods witnessed a decline, while inbound shipments of laptops and battery chargers saw a sharp uptick, according to the import data for the financial year 2020-21.
With a badminton racquet in hand and a song on mind, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh met Indian ace badminton player Saina Nehwal on the sets of his upcoming film Dilwale.
India's PV Sindhu went down fighting to Spain's World No 1 Carolina Marin in the women's singles badminton gold medal match at the Rio Olympics on Friday.
It was a rare sight to witness badminton legends Prakash Padukone and Morten Frost get back on the court to relive their glory days with India's chess wizard Viswanathan Anand for company.
With five titles under his belt, Lakshya Sen was racing towards the top echelons of international badminton before his stunning run was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, which brought all sporting action to a halt across the world. With the world in lockdown to contain the deadly disease, Lakshya too is enduring the uncertain times within the confines of his apartment, near the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru.
Badminton rackets used by the Paralympic gold medallist, the javelin which brought India its first gold in the Olympics and gloves worn by the bronze medal winning athlete are among Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mementos which are drawing the highest bids currently on the culture ministry website which is e-auctioning them.
It was Sindhu's third successive loss to Marin, who had won both the Super 1000 events in Thailand in January before finishing runners-up at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.
Kidambi Srikanth entered the men's singles semi-finals at the Hong Kong Open after fifth seed Chen Long of China decided to quit the contest owing to an injury, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
An unresponsive treatment and the monotony of the long rehabilitation almost convinced Yuki Bhambri to hang his racquet for good but a voice within kept telling him that he could still pursue the game he is so passionate about.
Outside Bollywood films, Sania Mirza might be the only Indian success welcomed as warmly in neighbouring Pakistan and the 28-year-old expects her doubles feats to inspire girls on both sides of the border to pick up a tennis racquet.
Rising Indian doubles duo of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra stunned World No 7 Koreans Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang in an edge-of-the-seat semifinals to seal their maiden Grand Prix Gold final, while K Srikanth also stormed into the men's singles final at the Syed Modi International, in Lucknow, on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Canadian, who a year ago had failed to qualify for the tournament but has gone on to become the sport's brightest young star.
She has spunk, confidence, some naughtiness and lots of style. Meet Sania Mirza, off-court
In a surprise decision, Ankita was left out of the financial assistance scheme despite being India's top-ranked player. The Sports Ministry included second-highest ranked player Karman Kaur Thandi and Prarthana Thombare apart from seasoned Sania Mirza for Rs 50,000 monthly allowance.
He was hailed as the next big thing when he shocked five-time world and two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan in the final of China Open Super Series Premier event, a performance that also held out promise of a medal at the Rio Olympics.
Former National champion Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan is going through a torrid time in Senegal as the airline on which he travelled there has misplaced his bag.
'These youngsters have proved there is money in sports today, not just cricket!' 'They are youth icons and people look up to them.' 'Our athletes are not scared. Like a child knows no fear, they are youngsters without fear.'
Saurav Ghosal became the first Indian squash player to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championships, after rallying against Henrik Mustonen in a keenly-contested match of the sport's biggest event of the year at the National Centre in Manchester on Wednesday.
Upset with the organisers' last-minute decision to slash her base price at the IBL auction despite being listed in the icon players' category, ace doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta says she will let her racquet do the talking in the Indian Badminton League.
'I am not too disappointed. I feel like he had to come up with the goods, and it did feel like to some extent it was on my racquet, I just came up against somebody who was, on the day, a bit better when it really mattered'
Indian ace Kidambi Srikanth's gallant fight ended with a narrow three-game loss against home favourite Tommy Sugiarto in the men's singles finals of the $ 120,000 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Malang, on Sunday.
Sania Mirza yanks her thumb down to touch the underside of her forearm. "See?" she giggles. "I'm double-jointed."
Country's top ranked female racqueter Dipika Pallikal, who became the first Indian squash player to break into top-20 in the world rankings, suffered a first-round defeat to Kasey Brown of Australia to bow out of the US Open in Philadelphia.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna sqaundered a set advantage to lose to USA's Venus Williams and Rajiv Ram 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 in the Rio Olympics semi-finals on Saturday.
'Even if we ate our chappatis with pickle, we ensured proper food for Sumit.'
India might be medal-less in the ongoing Olympics so far, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the athletes competing in Rio should not get disheartened as 'victory and setbacks are all a part of life'.
Also seen in action for India will be the shuttlers, boxers, the women's hockey team and the table tennis players among others.
India's most successful female tennis player Sania Mirza revealed that she will hang up her racquet after getting married.
Images from Day 7 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Sunday.
India's Davis Cup captain Leander Paes is soon to be featured as a superhero in a cartoon series on TV.
Sindhu says the path to the Tokyo Olympic gold will be a tough one as now her opponents will look to exploit her weaknesses and she will need to add something new to her game to achieve success.
Ritwik outclassed Supreet Singh in the second round of the qualifiers at the Kolkata International Squash tournament.
After a sharp drop in rankings in 2006, will the tennis star recover next season?
Hyderabad girl Bhuvana Kalva's comeback story reflects true grit
A gold was there for the taking but Saurav Ghosal let it slip, squandering a two-game advantage to narrowly miss out on becoming the first Indian squash player to win the yellow metal at the Asian Games, in Incheon on Tuesday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu continued her unbeaten run while debutant Sameer Verma also qualified for the knockout stage with a straight-game win in his last Group B match at the BWF World Tour Finals.
Former CAG Vinod Rai said he will not take a single rupee in remuneration from the government for his work.
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