There was no disgruntled coach to lock him out as shown in the Bollywood blockbuster movie Dangal but Mahavir Phogat still missed watching daughter Babita Phogat's silver-winning campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Thursday after he could not lay his hands on tickets to get inside the venue.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is among the 20 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna Awards, who will be honoured by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Former coaches say that it will be a tough call. The WFI faces the tedious dilemma of youth versus experience, rising star up against the country's most celebrated athlete.
Bajrang Punia has established himself as the undisputed superstar of Indian wrestling but the road to glory was fraught with temptations
'I was not nervous because I had to wrestle strong opponents. It is a World Championship and qualifying for the Olympics was very important for me, so that nervousness was there'
Bajrang Punia stopped using his social media handles and asked fans to keep showing him support as he gets battled ready for the Games
'Team India's participation in the Olympics couldn't have ended on a sweeter note'
India's double Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar says the country's sports administrators did not take him seriously when he said he was offered to lose the 2010 World Championship final in Moscow in return for huge money.
The Sports Ministry is set to establish 1000 Khelo India Centres (KIC) at the district level across the country with the help of sporting champions, who will be remunerated for providing their expertise. The centres will either be run by a past champion or have them as a coach.
The committee also picked 19 sportspersons for the Arjuna Award, including the likes of cricketers Ravindra Jadeja and Poonam Yadav, track and field stars Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, Mohammed Anas and Swapna Barman.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Former India football captain Baichung Bhutia was given the Lifetime Achievement award, while hockey legend and three-time Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Sr was honoured with the Icon of the Century award.
In a country where winning an Olympic medal is a rarity and bagging two in a row a distant dream, India's lone double-Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar revealed that he was advised to 'bow out on a high' after his bronze-medal feat at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Shrugging off his controversial semi-final defeat, Bajrang Punia bagged his third World Wrestling Championships medal while Ravi Dahiya made his debut memorable by grabbing a bronze.
Manavi Kapur goes behind the scenes to find out what it takes to be a successful woman wrestler.
The 26-year-old Ritu Phogat defeated Cambodia's Nou Srey Pov by a technical knock-out verdict in the second round.
India's sports fraternity joined the nation on Sunday in saluting its essential services providers engaged in the fight against COVID-19 by clapping for them and sharing messages and videos of gratitude on social media.
Sushil, who is yet to make a formal statement on the matter, put out a cryptic tweet after the controversy broke out.
Sushil Kumar later ruled himself out of the running to take Narsingh's spot at Rio.
The Rio bronze-winner has tweaked her leg defence on the insistence of her coach Kuldeep Singh Malik, something that has already got her a gold in the Commonwealth Championships in December last year.
The Rio Olympics bronze medalist shared the stage with Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha during the Whisper 'Like a Girl' campaign. When asked about the recent trend of making biopics on sportsmen, Sonakshi said that she will be thrilled to star as Sakshi if at all a movie was made based on the wrestler's life.
With her sights firmly set for the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik feels that quality preparation can only happen if there are at least two extended camps in foreign countries every year. "Before Olympics, we went to Spain for a training camp and we got to practise with a lot of quality wrestlers. I believe for better performances we need more foreign exposure where we compete with the top wrestlers from other countries," Sakshi, who is face of Delhi Sultans franchise in the Pro-Wrestling League (PWL) told PTI.
'Olympic wrestling is like an old Nokia phone.' 'WWE is like an iPhone.' The Great Khali's academy turns pro-wrestling dreams into reality
'Everyone wants to get involved when there is success.' 'But what about guaranteeing it?' 'Making sure girls have the opportunity to succeed all the time?'
The Dutch were 2-0 up with 15 minutes left in the Euro 2020 match, only to allow their opponents two quick goals and the chance to share the points before Dumfries headed home a dramatic winner to the delight of the home fans.
There is a quiet air of confidence at the wrestling camp being held at Sonepat to prepare India's brightest wrestling prospects for the Asian Games in Incheon.
'Everyone has to recalibrate their plans, preparations, peaking, meaning the tournaments they will play in in the lead-up to the Olympics.'
They joined the BJP in the presence of Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, party's general secretary in charge of Haryana Anil Jain and its state chief Subhash Barala.
India's only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was named on a panel entrusted with the task of preparing the blueprint for the country's success at the next three Games, the sports ministry said on Monday.
Proving her mettle yet again, young Sonam Malik downed Sakshi Malik for the second time in a row, this time by pinning the Olympic medallist, to make it to the Indian team for next month's Olympic Qualifiers, in Lucknow, on Wednesday. She first got past Radhika and then caring little for reputations, Sonam beat the Asian Championship 59kg gold medallist Sarita Mor (3-1) in the semi-finals before register a victory by fall against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi in the final.
Sanjivani Jadhav, one of the rising stars of Indian athletics, clinched the silver medal in the women's 10,000 metres at the 29th World University Games in Taipei City.
The villagers have pinned their hopes for development on Ravi, whose success has much to do with the sacrifices and moral guidance of one man -- his father Rakesh Kumar Dahiya.
With the Delhi high court on Tuesday directing Wrestling Federation of India to hold a meeting with Sushil Kumar, the decorated grappler's hopes of competing at the Olympics seems almost over as the Federation is not keen on conducting a trial in the contentious men's 74kg category.
One of India's strongest Olympic medal hopes, ace shooter Manu Bhaker feels preparations 'cannot get better' than the ongoing training-cum-competition tour of Croatia as she works on her consistency ahead of the Tokyo Games.
A day after the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed sports complexes and stadia to open without spectators, National Sports Federations were deliberating ways to facilitate training of at least the Olympic-bound athletes. The lockdown has been extended till May 31.
A police team on Thursday visited the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre here to hold investigations in the wake of Dope scandal allegedly involving embattled Narsingh Yadav ahead of his proposed Olympic run. "A police team had questioned the witnesses, coaches, wardens in view of FIR registered on the complaint of Narsingh Yadav," Crime Investigation Department (CIA) officer Indervir, who had been appointed to probe the matter said. "We are taking statements from witnesses, wardens, coaches and also taken in possession few utensils," he said.
'People think Salman is ready to remove his shirt for small things but it takes a lot to convince him to take that shirt off.' Sultan director Ali Abbas Zafar tells us what to expect from his film.
The Indian Olympics Association (IOA), on Thursday, said that it will not object to wrestler Narsingh Yadav replacing Praveen Rana in the Rio Olympics if he is cleared by NADA in an ongoing dope scandal.
Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson has revealed how his long-standing friendship with Shane Watson got off to a rocky start back in 2000, when the former all-rounder stuck his head in the toilet at the Australia's Cricket Academy in Adelaide.
One wonders if Dangal will beat Sultan's box office records when it releases on December 23. Then again, Aamir has the mind of a genius.
