As hosts Russia and Saudia Arabia kick off the extravaganza, Harish Kotian and Ashish Narsale assemble a fascinating FIFA World Cup quiz.
Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who missed out on an Olympic medal by a whisker in Rio de Janeiro recently, on Sunday showered praise on Thangavelu Mariyappan and Varun Singh Bhati for winning gold and bronze in the Paralympics. "You have achieved something what I could not. I would have loved to meet both of you in person," Dipa said in her congratulatory message.
Rediff.com brings you a glance of all the action from the week gone by.
For the 12th successive time, none could match up to India's regional might but the host country's record-breaking medal haul of 308 can hardly hide the fact that the standard of competition in the South Asian Games has failed to rise significantly.
Under Manpreet's captaincy, the Indian team has achieved important milestones,
England will play the U.S. on May 28 in Chicago, a week after the FA Cup final, and Colombia in New Jersey on May 31.
Images from the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Wednesday, Day 6.
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.
In the absence of Paralympic gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia, Sundar, who had been disqualified from his event in Rio 2016 due to technical reasons, found redemption and took home the gold medal and the tag of world champion with a personal best throw of 60.36m.
As the curtains come down at the Tokyo Olympics, here's a glance at the medallists and those who came within touching distance of glory.
Elavanil finished 16th while the more experienced Apurvi settled for the 36th place
Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps, unbeknownst to the world, competed at the 2016 Summer Games in Brazil as a married man, having quietly wed his fiance, former Miss California Nicole Johnson, weeks earlier, court records made public on Thursday showed. Phelps and Johnson, both 31, tied the knot in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on June 13, but have not publicly announced the nuptials, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported, citing a marriage document the paper published on its website. Phelps revealed the couple's engagement in February 2015.
She couldn't make the cut through qualifiers but star woman boxer M C Mary Kom's Olympic dream is not quite over yet as India has decided to seek a wildcard entry for her in the Games scheduled from August 5 this year. Mary Kom (51kg) had missed out on qualifying for the Olympics after bowing out in the second round of last month's World Championships -- the second and final qualifying tournament for women for the Games. The 33-year-old was required to make at least the semifinals to be assured of an Olympic berth in the mega-event in Astana, Kazakhstan. "She has been a phenomenal athlete and looking at her overall contribution to the sport, we have decided to request for a wildcard for her. However, her application will be among the many that the International Boxing Association (AIBA) will examine before taking a final decision," Chairman of the ad-hoc committee currently running boxing in India, Kishen Narsi, told PTI. Mary Kom, who is called 'Magnificent Mary' by AIBA, is a five-time world champion besides being a bronze-medallist from the London Olympics. The multiple-time Asian champion could not get an Olympic quota place in either of the two qualifying events for women boxers and is keeping her fingers crossed for a wildcard.
Fresh from her historic feat at the Rio Olympics, gymnast Dipa Karmakar touched down in the country to a rousing welcome, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Mirabai Chanu will enter Birmingham, as title favourite.
Usain Bolt says he thinks he will need to produce a time similar to the one that earned him gold at the Rio 2016 Games to win Saturday's 100m final at the World Athletics Championships in London.
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.
Padukone attributed Sindhu and Saina's success to their physical abilities.
Images from Copa America matches played on Monday.
Will India finally reach the elusive double-digit mark? Raj Kishore Mishra, former joint secretary at the sports ministry, for one, is willing to stick his neck out on the possibility.
The nation of 1.3 billion people was glued to television sets as early as 5am, following the fortunes of Aditi Ashok, who after three days, was lying second and in line for an unprecedented medal in golf at the Olympics.
Sindhu does not expect her prolonged pandemic-related absence to hamper her preparations for next year's rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.
Russia has lost its appeal against its ban from next month's Rio Paralympics because of a state-sponsored doping programme, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), sports highest tribunal, said on Tuesday. The decision to exclude Russia's entire Paralympics team, initially made on Aug. 7 by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), means at least 250 Russian competitors are set to miss the Sept. 7-18 event.
Vikas Krishan has no qualms admitting that he has been indisciplined and too reliant on luck in the past, problems that he claims to have fixed ahead of the Tokyo Games.
The 24-year-old from Tripura, who had finished fourth in vault event in the 2016 Rio Olympics, scored 14.150 to win gold. She had topped the qualification also with a score of 13.400.
Messi has spoken at length about the dream of winning a title with Argentina and his compatriots know how much an international trophy means to him.
The Kerala swimmer has been continuously improving his performance in the 200m butterfly event.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler to win a silver medal at the Olympics after losing in the men's Freestyle 57kg title round 4-7 to reigning World champion Zavur Uguev, in Chiba, Japan, on Thursday.
The duo will hope to make the cut in an Olympic qualifying event in Rome later this week.
Disappointed but not disheartened to miss out on a Rio Olympic berth, sensational javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, on Wednesday, said he is looking to put in the hard yards to earn India a medal at 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ethiopia's Etenesh Diro got tangled up with two other runners in Saturday's 3,000m women's Olympic steeplechase and stopped to tear off her damaged right shoe and sock, but she kept on running to finish seventh.
Virginia Fuchs narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Rio Olympics in 2016 and has now set her sights on next year's delayed Tokyo Games.
Here's what you need to know about the Tokyo Games
Olympic bronze medal-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik is all set to be conferred with the country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
China's Chen Long stepped out of compatriot Lin Dan's shadow to spoil Lee Chong Wei's hopes of a golden Olympic swansong and win the men's badminton title in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
Gymnast Dipa Karmakar would be aiming to put behind the injury-marred disaster that was the Asian Games when she aims for a positive start to her Olympic qualification bid with the World Cup of Artistic Gymnastics.
Dipa Karmakar's historic 4th place finish in Artistic Gymnastics drew praise from the entire nation. The Tripura girl performed with exceptional grit but missed out on a medal by a narrow margin. The 22-year old, who had earlier become the first Indian gymnast to qualify for finals, was lauded by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and former cricketer Virender Sehwag.
Football rallied round on Saturday to offer support to former England captain Rio Ferdinand following the death of his wife, Rebecca Ellison, from cancer.
Colombia head to Copa semis after penalties win over Uruguay
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