India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, star wrestler Vinesh Phogat, TT player Manika Batra and Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu were on Tuesday picked for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the sports ministry's selection committee.
"Admirable preparation by wrestler Sakshi Malik for the Rio Olympics. My best wishes are with her," Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate her.
Star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt would seek to grab an Olympic quota place in his first opportunity when he spearheads a 17-member Indian campaign at the Asian Olympic Qualification wrestling championship, starting in Astana, Kazakhstan from Friday. It will be a tough three-day competition from March 18-20, considering that only the top two finishers in each weight category here will secure an Olympic berth for a country. This is the second qualifying event for the Rio Games. The first was held last year at the World Championship in Las Vegas, where just one Indian in Narsingh Yadav bagged a quota place for the country in Men's 74kg freestyle. With India's entry at Rio de Janeiro ensured in 74kg category, no one will be competing in this category. Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar also fights in the same weight division as Narsingh. Thus, the squad consists of five grapplers in men's freestyle, six in Greco-Roman and six in female wrestling. London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar, who pulled out of the 2015 World Championship due to an injury, has the best chance of grabbing an Olympic berth for India as well as a medal.
The wrestlers will be in action at the same venue, where the weightlifters signed off a phenomenal campaign
'Narsingh is a very senior wrestler and has done a fabulous job by sealing the Olympics berth.' 'But he needs to understand that the berth belongs to the country and not any individual.'
The man who could have possibly 'spiked' wrestler Narsingh Yadav's food supplements has been identified.
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.
After missing the Dave Schultz Cup due to a shoulder injury, star Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar is now eyeing a return at the Asian Wrestling Championships starting from April 18 to 22.
The 23-year-old champion wrestler's Asian gold medal tells us that tough times don't last, tough people do.
Hardeep sprung a surprise by booking an Olympic quota place for India in Greco-Roman wrestling, which is not the country's forte, after making the 98kg category final on the last day of the Asian Olympic Qualification championship, in Astana, on Sunday.
Sania Mirza's was officially named for the coveted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Friday. The Hyderabadi lady is only the second tennis player to be nominated for the country's highest sport honour.
Rubbishing rumours that he had engineered the dope fiasco surrounding Olympic-bound Narsingh Yadav, a fuming Satpal Singh said it was wrong to point fingers at him and his protege without any proof. A fuming Satpal said the allegations against him were absolutely baseless and was ready to face any inquiry.
The Phogats became a household name in the country after the success of Hindi film 'Dangal', which is based on the lives of Phogat sisters, all of them wrestlers, and their father who coached them against all odds.
Star India wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt will have to wait to know whether his bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympics is upgraded to silver till the time his sample is cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Reports emerged that the grappler's bronze would be upgraded to silver after second-place finisher of the London Games -- late Besik Kudukhov of Russia -- was stripped off his medal for failing a dope test.
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.
Shuttler PV Sindhu raised serious hopes of breaking India's long-awaited medal quest in the Rio Olympics by storming into the semifinals of the women's singles event with a stunning straight games win over London Games silver medallist Wang Yihan of China.
While skill is not an issue with Vinesh, holding off strong candidates for six minutes is a big challenge, she herself had admitted recently.
Days after India won two medals in wrestling at the London Olympics, the country's next batch of promising grapplers were robbed of an opportunity to compete in the World Cadet Championship to be held in Baku, Ajerbaijan as they were denied visa.
Russia was the leading doping offender in global sport during 2014, followed by Italy and India, the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Wednesday.
The decision not to impose a blanket ban was not uniformly welcomed with Travis Tygart, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, describing it as "yet another devastating blow to clean athletes."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had disqualified weightlifting gold medallists Cao Lei (75kg), Chen Xiexia (48 kg) and Liu Chunhong (69kg) from the Beijing Games after they tested positive for prohibited substances.
Yogeshwar Dutt bagged an unexpected bronze medal in the freestyle wrestling event at the Asian Games.
Two athletes were disqualified for doping and two fighting hockey teams had to be separated by security guards.
Touched with Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu's gesture to donate Rs 30 lakh from his prize money to his school, Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Monday said that all athletes backed by the government should try to set up academies or centres of their own to inspire the youth. Mariyappan, who scripted history at Rio Paralympics after winning a gold medal in high jump, has donated Rs 30 lakh from his 2 crore prize money towards his government school in Tamil Nadu.
Showering praise on Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said these "daughters" were the saving grace of India at the Rio Games. Speaking at the inaugural function of Sauni irrigation project in Sanosara (Gujarat), Modi touched upon several social issues plaguing the country including gender-based discrimination.
The 36-year-old Jhajharia, who is the first Indian to win two Paralympic gold medals, was the first choice of the awards selection committee.
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.
Sakshi thanked Olympic medalists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt for showing wrestling the way.
The Sports Ministry identified 45 potential medal winners, who will get financial assistance under the government scheme 'Target Olympic Podium' for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Sports Minister M S Gill found himself in fresh controversy on Tuesday after he snubbed top grappler Sushil Kumar's coach Satpal Singh by asking him to step aside during a photo opportunity at his residence in Delhi.
It was a great day for Indian wrestlers, who won seven medals, including three gold in the recently-concluded Junior Asian Wrestling Championships at Jakarta, Indonesia.
P V Sindhu became the country's first-ever woman silver medal winner in the Olympic Games after coming second best against world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in a pulsating clash for the gold in the badminton singles on Day 14 of competition.
Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra said that the country should focus on finding the next champion instead of talking about his feat.
Yogeshwar Dutt's London Olympics bronze medal will not be upgraded to gold after the United World Wrestling (UWW) on Tuesday made it clear that the top-place finisher in men's 60kg freestyle -- Togrul Asgarov - never tested positive for a banned substance. "Contrary to news reports, 2012 Olympic gold medalist Togrul ASGAROV (AZE) has never been in violation of UWW's anti-doping policy," the world body tweeted from its official Twitter handle.
The path to the Olympics is paved with potholes for many athletes but few can claim to have overcome hardship like wrestler Vinod Kumar, who was thrown from a speeding train by a rival's family in India before landing on his feet in Australia.
After breaking an almost six-decade jinx with his gold medal-winning feat at the World Wrestling Championships, wrestler Sushil Kumar has set his eyes on next month's Commonwealth Games, where he believes India can produce about 15 champions.
India's most decorated wrestler Sushil Kumar, considers next month's Commonwealth Games the first step towards accomplishing his 'unfulfilled' dream of winning an OIympic gold medal.
Sushil, who is yet to make a formal statement on the matter, put out a cryptic tweet after the controversy broke out.
Sports Minister Jitendra Singh was far from impressed as he took stock of India's preparations for next year's Commonwealth and Asian Games in a meeting with SAI officials here and expressed dissatisfaction with the progress made so far.
