Page 28 - 2024 Olympics

Javelin ace Neeraj Chopra to miss Ostrava Golden Spike due to muscle injury

Olympic gold-medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will miss the Ostrava Golden Spike 2024 athletics meet in the Czech Republic on May 28 due to a muscle injury he sustained in training two weeks ago, the organisers said. Chopra has competed in two competitions this season -- the Doha Diamond League and the Federation Cup. The 26-year-old will, however, attend the prestigious meet as a guest. "Due to an injury that he sustained in training two weeks ago (adductor muscle) he will not be able to throw in Ostrava, but he will arrive at the event as a guest," said the organisers of the competition in a statement. Chopra, the reigning Olympic and world champion, commenced his 2024 season on a strong note, clinching silver with an impressive throw of 88.36 metres at the Doha Diamond League on May 10. He then made a return to domestic competition after almost three years, winning gold in the Federation Cup on May 15 with a throw of 82.27m, pushing DP Manu to second spot in ...

Paris Olympics 2024: Rohan Bopanna to pair with either Balaji or Yuki

India's top doubles player Rohan Bopanna will pick either N Sriram Balaji or Yuki Bhambri as his partner for the Paris Olympics and All India Tennis Association (AITA) will most likely approve his choice even as the combinations will be discussed by the selection committee. Ranked four in the world, 44-year-old Bopanna, being a top-10 player, can pick a player of his choice as per the rules. The men's doubles draw at the Paris Games will be a 32-team affair, where one nation can have a maximum of two teams. The qualification criteria gives top-10 players the privilege to pick their partners, who should be inside top-300 on the ATP and WTA ranking charts. The rankings of June 10 after the conclusion of the French Open will be considered for qualifications. According to AITA sources, Bopanna had recommended names of Balaji and Bhambri to the national federation for inclusion in TOPS as his potential partners for Paris Olympics. "Usually, it's the player's choice (to pick his partne

Paralympics opens in 100 days; Paris organisers push ticket sales

With 100 days until the Paralympics begin, Paris organizers are delivering a message from the athletes in a bid to boost ticket sales: I am not missing anything, except you. The countdown campaign for the August 28-September 8 Paralympic Games begins Monday. It features three Paralympic athletes, each of them alone in an empty stadium. The campaign slogan Il ne me manque rien, sauf vous (I'm not missing anything, except you) is a rallying call to get people to come along and watch them compete. The French athletes featured in the campaign are Arnaud Assoumani, a long jump and triple jump specialist who won gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing; wheelchair tennis player Pauline Droulde, and blind soccer player Gal Rivire who was a European championship winner two years ago. He plays at club level for Bondy Ccifoot Club in the same suburb where France star Kylian Mbapp grew up. National broadcaster France Tlvisions will show the campaign in a bid to raise awareness and ultimately bo

Aman Sehrawat seals Paris 2024 Olympics quota; Deepak Punia crashes out

Sehrawat, a U23 world champion, beat Chongsong Han of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 12-2 in the semi-final for India's sixth quota in wrestling for the Paris 2024 Olympics

Doha Diamond League: Neeraj Chopra finishes second with a throw of 88.36m

Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra finished second at the Doha Diamond League meeting javelin throw event as his big final effort of 88.36m fell short by two centimeters of Jakub Vadlejch's winning effort here on Friday. The 26-year-old Chopra trailed Czech Republic veteran Vadlejch -- who won the title with his third round throw of 88.38m -- all through the competition. Chopra made a last ditch effort but his final round throw fell 2cm short of Vadlejch's mark as the Indian superstar failed to defend the title he had won won last year . Two-time world champion Anderson Peters took the third sport with a best throw of 86.62m. Kishore Jena's Diamond League debut ended in disappointment as he was eliminated after three rounds of throws, with 76.31m being his best. He began with a 75.72m, then fouled his second effort, before coming up with 76.31m to be at ninth after three throws each by all the 10 competitors. The 28-year-old Jena has a personal best of 87.54m, a performance

Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, will Schengen visa woes ease?

While France is the most sought-after destination amongst all Schengen countries, the wait time for its visa and the rejection rate for Indians are high

Olympic torch arrives in France's Marseille amid fanfare, high security

Excitement is building in the southern French city of Marseille, where a majestic three-mast ship carrying the Olympic torch arrived from Greece ahead of a welcoming ceremony at sunset Wednesday. Paris Games organizers have promised fantastic" celebrations in the city, where the Old Port has been placed under high security. The torch was lit in Greece last month before it was officially handed to France. It left Athens aboard a ship named Belem, which was first used in 1896, and spent twelve days at sea. More than a thousand boats will accompany the Belem's parade around the Bay of Marseille. The ship will dock on a pontoon that looks like an athletics track in the Old Port. The welcoming ceremony at dusk on Wednesday will include a demonstration by the jets of the Patrouille de France, the acrobatic team of the French air force. "The return of the Games to our country will be a fantastic celebration," said Paris 2024 Olympics Organizing Committee President Tony Estanguet. As a f

Paris Olympics 2024: Stories of India's Olympic-bound relay teams

Redemption, fulfilment of a father's dream, a big step in a nascent career and justification of choices made early in life -- Olympic qualification meant different things to the different members of the 4x400m Indian men's and women's relay teams who booked their Paris berths on Monday. PTI gives a low-down on the eight runners -- four men and four women -- who finished second in their respective qualifying heats at the World Athletics Relay in Nassau, Bahamas to make the Olympic cut. THE WOMEN'S TEAM: ----------------------- MR Poovamma: ========== For Olympian Poovamma, it's a redemption of sorts after she faced the ignominy of a two-year ban for a doping offence in 2021 before getting a favourable decision after the intervention of Kerala High Court. The 33-year-old, a multiple medallist in the individual 400m and 4x400m relay race in the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games, returned to action during the Goa National Games last year after serving a two-year ban. "Finally, I can return

Indian women's and men's 4x400m relay teams qualify for Paris Olympics 2024

The Indian men's and women's 4x400m relay teams qualified for Paris Olympics after finishing second in their respective second-round heats at the World Athletics Relays here on Monday. In the women's competition, the quartet of Rupal Chaudhary, M R Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3 minutes and 29.35 seconds to finish second behind Jamaica (3:28.54) in heat number one to book a Paris Games ticket. Later, the men's squad of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob finished with a collective timing of 3 minutes and 3.23 seconds to also finish second in their heat, behind USA (2:59.95). The top two teams in each of the three heats in the second round were to qualify for the Olympics to be held from July 26 to August 11. The Indian women's team had finished fifth in the first-round qualifying heat on Sunday with a time of 3 minutes and 29.74 seconds. The men's team had failed to finish in the first-round qualifying heat after second le

Olympics 2024: Big blow for India medal hopes! Nada suspends Bajrang Punia

According to reports, Punia failed to provide his urine sample for the selection trials at Sonepat on March 10, prompting NADA to issue the order suspending him from participation in any future events

Paris will become no-fly zone to safeguard 2024 Olympic opening ceremony

Skies over the Paris region will be closed for six hours as part of the massive security operation for the July 26 opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Paris airports operator said Wednesday. Augustin de Romanet, chairman of Aroports de Paris, said airlines are being warned in advance about the closure and told they will have to fly around the restricted airspace. For six hours, there won't be any aircraft over the Paris region," he said on France Info radio. The no-fly zone will extend for a radius of 150 kilometers (93 miles) around Paris, the civil aviation authority and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin have said. The unprecedented waterborne ceremony on the River Seine running through the French capital is the stiffest single security challenge for Paris Games organizers, with crowds of more than 320,000 people expected to line the waterway. At least one French military AWACS surveillance aircraft will police the skies during the Olympics, using its powerful radar to wa

Indian wrestlers to miss Asian Olympics qualifiers due to Dubai rains

In a huge setback for the Indian wrestling contingent at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, two of the country's best wrestlers, Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal, will miss the continental event as they could not report for the weigh-in on time as their flight arrived late in the Kyrgyzstan capital owing to bad weather in Dubai. While both Punia and Kalkal eventually managed to reach Bishkek after being stranded at the Dubai international airport due to incessant rain and flooding, they could not report for the mandatory weigh-in on time, according to sources. The sources added that the organisers did not allow late weigh-in despite request from the Indian coaches. Punia (86kg), who had come close to winning a medal at the Tokyo Games, and Sujeet (65kg), were on their way to Bishkek to participate in the Asia Olympic qualifiers the second-last qualifying event for Paris Olympics when a majority of the flights leaving Dubai got cancelled or delayed because of the flooding of th

Paris Olympics opening ceremony on river Seine will last nearly 4 hours

With sunset and moonlight gleaming on the river, the grandiose opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics will last nearly four hours. A total of 205 delegations will parade on more than 80 boats on the Seine. The ceremony will drift slowly from east to west, bridge to bridge, snaking six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Pont d'Austerlitz to Pont d'Ina. Proceedings begin at 3:45 p.m. and finish at 11:15 p.m. local time with artistic performances preceding the athletes' parade. The athletes will motor past about 320,000 fans wedged in behind security cordons on upper and lower tiers on the embankments. Others will gaze at giant screens beaming images of the ambitious ceremony. For one evening, the Seine will be transformed into a giant open-air ceremony, Paris Games director of ceremonies Marie-Catherine Ettori said during a media briefing on Thursday. Once the 10,500 athletes have disembarked from their boats, the final part of the ceremony takes place at the Trocadro plaza overlooking th

Paris 2024: Things to know about the flame-lighting ceremony in Greece

A priestess prays to a dead sun god in front of a fallen Greek temple. If the sky is clear, a flame spurts that will burn in Paris throughout the world's top sporting event. Speeches ensue. On Tuesday, the flame for this summer's Paris Olympics will be lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. Here's a look at the workings and meaning of the elaborate ceremony held among the ruins of Ancient Olympia ahead of each modern Olympiad. COULDN'T THE FRENCH JUST LIGHT IT IN PARIS? Couldn't the Academy Awards just be announced in a conference call? The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It's meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event a

In a first, Paris Olympics 2024 gold medalists to get $50,000 prize money

With this, World Athletics (WA) will become the first international federation to award prize money at an Olympic Games.

Paris Olympics 2024: Injuries are mentally challenging - Mirabai Chanu

She heaved her lowest weight in years at the World Cup recently but Olympic silver-medallist Mirabai Chanu is actually quite chuffed about her performance as she managed it on the back of just one month's training after enduring a challenging injury breakdown. With only four months to go for the Paris Olympics, Chanu, who was competing in her first tournament since her Asian Games breakdown, finished 12th at the IWF World Cup with a total effort of 184kg (81kg+103kg), a whopping 33kg behind China's Hou Zhihui, who will look to defend her Olympic title. "I was delighted to be back in competition. Everything is okay now, recovery is good. I'm training at 70 per cent," Chanu told PTI. After watching her opponents raise the bar by breaking records in the 49kg weight class, Chanu's confidence received a significant boost when she heaved the barbell after just a month of training. "It felt very good. After the injury (at Asian Games), I lifted weights after 4-5 months and I got a lot of

Paris Olympics: 'It's Nikhat's time, Lovlina needs to be more proactive'

Former Indian men's boxing coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez has backed world champion Nikhat Zareen (50kg) to bag a medal at this year's Paris Olympics but feels that Tokyo Games bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain's (75kg) chances will boil down to her level of aggression in the ring. The 68-year-old Cuban, who served for over two decades as the men's coach and also became the first and only overseas Dronacharya awardee, has been appointed by the Sports Authority of India as High Performance Coach for a two-year period. Fernandez is stationed at the National Boxing Academy in Rohtak, Haryana. Speaking recently on the sidelines of the multi-nation camp for junior boxers at the National Centre of Excellence in Rohtak, Fernandez evaluated India's chances at the upcoming Summer Games. "I love the boxing (style) of Nikhat. She is very intelligent. She has good ring tactics. She knows when she is winning and when she is losing," Fernandez told SAI Media. "This is Nikhat's time to prove ...

Paris Olympics: Indian hockey team ready for Australian challenge

The in-form Indian men's hockey team will look to pass the "litmus test" that the formidable Australian side will pose at home when the two face off in a five-match Test series beginning here on Saturday. The series offers India a chance to gauge their strengths and capabilities ahead of the Paris Olympics. "This series serves as a litmus test for our team's preparedness ahead of the Paris Olympics. We aim to fine-tune our strategies and identify areas for improvement to ensure we are in peak form for the mega event. "Our focus will be on executing our game plan effectively and adapting to the challenges posed by the Australian side," chief coach Craig Fulton said. The away assignment offers the ideal chance for India to break their decade-long dry spell against Australia and secure a Test series win. Notably, India won the last away Test series against back in 2014. Fresh from their impressive performances in the FIH Pro League in February, the Indian squad, under the leadership

Olympics 2024: Nikhat, Manika, Sreeshankar's abroad training plea cleared

Several top athletes, including the Olympic-bound trio of boxer Nikhat Zareen, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, and table tennis player Manika Batra's request for financial assistance to train abroad was on Wednesday cleared by the Sports Ministry following a meeting here. Boxers Nikhat, Preeti Pawar, Parveen Hooda and Lovlina Borgohain will travel to Turkey for a foreign training camp along with their coaches and a physio, the ministry said in a statement. Wrestlers Sujeet (65kg), Deepak Punia (86kg) and Naveen (74kg) will head to Russia along with their sparring partners, a coach and physiotherapists to train ahead of the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament later this month. All the assistance is being provided under the ministry's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Shotgun shooter Bhowneesh Mendiratta's Mendiratta, who has secured a Paris quota place for the country, will travel to Italy to train with personal coach Daniele Di Spigno for the ISSF World Cup in Baku. Asian Ga

49-kg category: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu qualifies for Paris Olympic 2024

Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist Mirabai Chanu all but qualified for the 2024 Paris Games after she finished third in the women's 49kg Group B event of the IWF World Cup here on Monday. Returning from a six-month injury lay off, Chanu lifted a total of 184kg (81kg+103kg) at the tournament, which is the final and a mandatory qualifier for the Paris Olympics. With the completion of her event, Chanu has fulfilled the criteria for the Paris Olympics, which is participating in two compulsory events and three other qualifiers. The 2017 world champion is currently ranked second in the women's 49kg Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR) behind China's Jian HuiHua. The official announcement for the qualification will come after the conclusion of the World Cup when the OQR will be updated. The top 10 lifters from each weight class will qualify for the Paris Olympics. Chanu, who last competed at the Asian Games in September where she suffered a hip tendonitis injury, was not at her best, but was