Page 32 - Olympics

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

Shooting trials for Olympic selection set to commence in Bhopal on 11 May

A total of 37 pistol and rifle shooters will resume their quest for a spot in the Indian squad for the Paris Olympic Games when Olympic Selection Trials (OST) 3&4 commence here on Saturday. The Indian shooters have secured 16 Paris quota places (the maximum possible) in pistol and rifle and the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) is conducting trials among the top-five in the country in each event to select the squad for the Olympics. In shooting sport, Olympic quotas are earned for the the country and individuals securing the slots are not assured of Paris berths unless they top the selection trials. The top two shooters in each event, based on the average of the best three trial scores out of four, will board the flight to Paris. The first set of two trials was held at the Karni Singh Ranges in New Delhi last month and the MP State Shooting Academy here will decide the Olympic fate of top contenders over the next few days. The first day of the trials will see the men's ..

Gymnast Simone Biles wants to turn her post-Olympic tour into celebration

Simone Biles is bringing back her Gold Over America Tour this fall, with a twist. This time, the guys are invited too. The decision to include the men on the 30-city tour that starts in Southern California on Sept. 17 and ends in Detroit on Nov. 3 was intentional. Biles, who will try to build on her haul of seven Olympic medals this summer in Paris, wanted to broaden the show. I think the first time we were very driven on female-forward cast and having the beauty in that and knowing that we can put on a show without the guys and just having the girls being in their feminine power and being beautiful and being the stars, Biles said ahead of the tour's announcement on Thursday. But this time around we're like OK, that worked but let's do it a little bit differently, let's invite the men.' That includes Fred Richard, 20, who became the first American man to medal in the all-around at the world championships since 2010 when he earned bronze in Belgium last fall. Richard, who is eyeing

Too many functions comes in way of training ,competing in India: Chopra

Based abroad for training most of the time, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra on Thursday acknowledged that his stardom sometimes comes in the way of training and competing in India. The 26-year-old superstar, who is the reigning world and Asian Games champion as well, is set to begin his season with the first leg of Diamond League here on Friday. "For me more important is my sport. It's good for my profile if I play in India but there are too many functions, marriage functions. I also want to join my family and friends but more than that, I want to train in an Olympic year," the youngster from Haryana told reporters at a pre-competition press conference here. "Before Tokyo (Olympics), I always trained in India but right now I just want to focus on my game. I will train in India later," he added. From here, he will fly to Bhubaneswar next week to compete on home turf for the first time in three years during the May 12 to 15 Federation Cup. He is aware of being a familiar face in Indi

Chopra to start Olympic buildup at Diamond league along with Kishore Jena

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra's Paris Games preparations will be put through a stern test when he begins his season in the first leg of the prestigious Diamond League one-day meet series against a star-studded but familiar field, here on Friday. The 26-year-old Indian javelin superstar, who is also the reigning world and Asian Games champion, will be up against the likes of former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Olympic and world-medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic. Asian Games silver-medallist and his compatriot Kishore Jena will also be in the fray as he makes his Diamond League debut. Jena has a personal best of 87.54m while Chopra's all-time best is 89.94m, which is also the national record. European champion Julian Weber of Germany, fourth in the Olympic Games and World Championships, will also compete in the 10-man field. The league will then move to Morocco on May 19. Chopra is also the defending champion here as he had set the tone for his title-laden

OMEGA ropes in Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra as sporting ambassador

Olympic and world championships gold medal-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has been roped in as the sporting ambassador of Swiss luxury brand for watches OMEGA, which is also the Official Timekeeper for this year's Paris Olympics. The star Indian athlete was invited to the OMEGA boutique in Doha, ahead of his participation at the first leg of Diamond League on Friday. Speaking on the partnership, Chopra said, "I am very excited to be a part of such an iconic brand that plays such a huge role in timekeeping at the Olympic Games. I am looking forward to a great association with OMEGA and the upcoming spectacle in Paris." Chopra is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin and the first Asian to win gold in his event at the World Championship. OMEGA has been the Official Timekeeper at almost every Olympic Games since 1932. Paris 2024 will mark OMEGA's 31st occasion as Official Timekeeper of the Games. After competing in the Diamond League, Chopra will head

Olympics 2024: Neeraj Chopra says belief key to success in Paris Games

The 26-year-old will defend his crown at the July 26-Aug. 11 Games and will be joined by compatriot Kishore Jena, while DP Manu also has a chance of qualifying for Paris

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

Taylor Swift draws five times as many US luxury travelers as Olympics

Now, Swift fever is reaching Europe, where many cities-including Paris-maintain limitations on ticket resales, preventing prices from reaching the five-digit sums that some consumers have paid in US

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 Olympics: Policing to include checks for some of city's residents

Special anti-terrorism measures being put in place to safeguard the unprecedented opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on the River Seine will also apply to all buildings along the route, meaning people who work and live there and their guests will be subjected to background security checks, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Thursday. Those affected will be cross-checked against security services' databases, to see whether they have previously been flagged as suspected Islamist extremists or for other radicalism, Nunez said. The wildly ambitious July 26 ceremony is proving to be a gargantuan security challenge. Athletes will be paraded through the heart of the French capital on 94 boats along a six-kilometre (nearly four-mile) stretch of the Seine, from east to west. They will be accompanied by 87 other boats for security, media and other people. All of the parade route will be inside a high-security zone that Nunez described as an "anti-terrorism perimeter". He said it wi

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

Vinesh Phogat secures women's 50kg category Paris Olympics quota for India

Looking as dominant as ever, Vinesh Phogat on Saturday locked Paris Olympics quota in women's 50kg category, reaching the final at the Asian Olympic Qualifier without conceding a single point, here Saturday. It is India's second quota place for the Paris Games as Antim Panghal had earned a quota in the 53kg category with her bronze medal winning show at the World Championships last year. The 29-year-old Vinesh has now secured her third straight Olympic quota, having featured in Rio Games (2016) and in Tokyo (2020) earlier. Vinesh, who was a prominent face of protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, dished out a strong performance, demolishing her opponents one by one. As is her wont, Vinesh looked for that one opportunity to subdue Miran Cheon in her opening bout and grabbed it after measuring her Korean rival for about 30 seconds. Once she grabbed Cheon and pushed her down for a take down, the bout ended in a jiffy, in one minute and 39 seconds. It was difficu

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

Olympics 2024: Uncertainty stares Russian athletes despite qualifying

With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics, it's still not clear whether any athletes from Russia who are expected to qualify will actually go. The question is whether Moscow will accept the conditions that the International Olympic Committee set for Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, it could be up to individual athletes to decide whether to participate. The IOC expects that 36 Russian athletes and possibly as many as 54 will do well enough at qualifying events to compete in Paris. The IOC will let them compete as neutral athletes, meaning they can't use their country's flag or anthem or participate in team sports such as soccer and basketball. Athletes with links to the military or who have expressed support for the war will be banned. The same restrictions apply to Russian ally Belarus. Athletes from Russia and Belarus also aren't allowed to take part in the opening ceremony on July 26. Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the rules and as

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

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