Increasingly isolated on the global stage, the World Cup has so far helped Vladimir Putin send a defiant message to his opponents that Russia is succeeding despite Western efforts to hold it back.
India's ace woman squash player, Dipika Pallikal, will be skipping next month's World Team Championships in Canada. The reason: she does not know about the event!
The 42-year-old Leander Paes's dream of appearing in a record seventh Olympics may remain just that if Rohan Bopanna decides to play with a player ranked lower than the world No 46.
India has never had so many highly-ranked shuttlers.
What a year Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh and Anirban Lahiri had!
Russia welcomed the world to the soccer World Cup on Thursday as fans streamed in, the hosts savoured a 5-0 victory on the pitch and President Vladimir Putin's government derided Western efforts to isolate him.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram overcame Rajiv Ouseph of England to enter the men's singles final of the $50,000 Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix, in Almere, The Netherlands.
After Central defender Harpreet Singh headed the first one in the 37th minute, two goals in two minutes immediately after resumption took the issue beyond Yemen's reach.
Lorenzo Insigne curled a quite wonderful shot beyond the reach of Belgium goal-keeper Thibaut Courtois after jinking in from the left flank.
In winning the Davis Cup Andy Murry has fulfilled the hopes Britain had in him. Now, says Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com, he needs to live up to his initial promise and consistently deliver results a player of his potential deserves.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Tiger Woods ended weeks of speculation on Friday when he announced he will play in next week's Masters golf tournament at Augusta National.
Canada took a deep breath on Thursday and prepared for their moment in the Women's World Cup spotlight.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Pullela Gopichand only managed to win five points from the two games.
A first-half header by striker Armando Sadiku gave Albania a 1-0 win over Romania at Euro 2016 on Sunday and kept alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages in their first major tournament. The result of a pulsating clash left the Balkan nation third in Group A on three points behind France and Switzerland, meaning that they are in contention to finish as one of the best four third-placed teams who will progress to the last 16. It also eliminated a toothless Romanian side who finished bottom on one point. A lack of cutting edge made them easy prey for the competition's rank outsiders, who thrived in an intense atmosphere in Lyon's new stadium.
For women's hockey in the country, this result may well turn out to be a watershed moment.
A guide to the Croatia starting 11 ahead of the World Cup final against France.
With the physical demands of modern-day tennis taking its toll the tournament will start without four of the top 11 in the ATP rankings including defending champion Stan Wawrinka who ended his season early with a knee injury.
Exiled England batsman Kevin Pietersen believes his former teammates can win the World Cup if they play with freedom even though their dreadful record in the last five tournaments suggests otherwise.
Vishnu Vardhan won his second Challenger level title of the season with Japanese partner Toshihide Matsui but four other Indians, including Leander Paes, tumbled out of various ATP events across the globe.
They next face 7th seed Anders Boesen of Denmark and 15th seed Chunlai Bao of China respectively at the Hong Kong Open.
In the absence of an injured Yuki, a lot would depend on how the left-handed Prajnesh, who won a singles bronze medal at the Asian Games, performs.
Defending men's champion Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock defeat but Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu did not face any trouble as she sailed into the women's singles final with a straight-game victory on an exciting day in Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Saturday.
Austria coach Marcel Koller is determined to make sure his team do not get swept away on a tide of national euphoria on the eve of a rare appearance at a major tournament.
Having beaten two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan to clinch the China Open title, India's latest badminton star K Srikanth said he is now confident of doing well in the future.
India's number one singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran beat Jay Clarke of Great Britain in straight sets to enter the main draw of the Miami Open, on Wednesday.
Australian golfer Jason Day on Wednesday offered an unusual excuse for arriving later than planned for practice at the British Open -- it was US President Donald Trump's fault.
We have had so far a tight and intense competition, says Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA's director of competitions
'Till a new road map is decided the old one continues. Why is somebody complaining? You cannot complain on a hypothetical situation. But if they want to shout let them shout, we are not going to be intimidated'
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Sachin Tendulkar believes the quality of India's batting is sufficient to make up for the deficiency of left-handed batsmen in the lineup, the cricketing great told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview ahead of the World Cup.
Tennis was rocked on Monday by allegations that the game's authorities have failed to deal with widespread match-fixing.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Test cricket returned to Pakistan for the first time in ten years with the Sri Lankan team playing two matches in Rawalpindi and Karachi, with the hosts winning the second match to clinch the series 1-0 after the rain-curtailed first game ended in a draw.
World number one Simona Halep swatted aside American Nicole Gibbs while Maria Sharapova was flawless in her straight sets victory over Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu in the opening round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
Delhi Capitals pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada though is looking at the brighter side and wants to bring in 'new tricks' on the table.
The FIH has responded by introducing a number of changes to the way hockey will be played and broadcast at the Rio Games. Those include a move to 15-minute quarters and scheduling more time for television replays and analysis to showcase players' virtuoso skills with a ball moving at more than 160 kilometres an hour, Fairweather said. For the first time in Olympic competition, the Rio hockey tournament will also feature quarter-finals, making it the last team sport to adopt the format at the Games.
