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1 week ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey |Sunil Gavaskar
Sift Kaur Samra has the vibe of any other 23-year-old. A Bollywood buff, her heart beats for lo-fi music, distant horizons, and untold adventures. She also swoons over puppies and swears by Italian platters at Chandigarh’s Virgin Courtyard. Her carefree demeanour is the very antithesis of the mental image we have of champion shooters. But at the shooting range, a quiet focus takes over. As her eyes lock onto the target 50 metres away, her fingers are steady, and breath measured.
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1 week ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey |Sunil Gavaskar
7.09 per cent — At the time of writing, that’s the probability Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is looking at if the side has to confirm a top-four berth in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Skipper Ajinkya Rahane is well aware that his side sits right behind the eight ball; even if the defending champion wins all of its remaining four games, it has to await other results. But the experienced campaigner in him isn’t sweating it. “We don’t want to think about the past.
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1 month ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey
The West Bengal Rifle Association (WBRA) has suspended former India 50m 3 positions rifle coach Joydeep Karmakar from all shooting activities in the State. The development comes after the Olympian shared a series of posts in January accusing the body of ‘corruption in a different level’ ahead of the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand.
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2 months ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey
Any semblance of post-lunchbreak lethargy at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, powered by Leaders, left the room on Saturday as former India skipper Virat Kohli arrived for a fireside chat with sports presenter Isa Guha at the Dravid-Padukone Excellence Centre in Bengaluru.
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2 months ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey
Influential voices of world football on Friday shared valuable insights on the sport in India and the necessity to drive a revolution in the women’s game during the second edition of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Indian Sports Summit at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence here. Nick Brown, senior vice president, Commercial, FIFA, revealed why the world body looks at India as a resource waiting to be tapped into.
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2 months ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey
Former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik on Friday, waxed lyrical about the depth of the current Indian cricket team during the second chapter of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Indian Sports Summit at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence here. “India, right now, is in a privileged and blessed place because of the assortment of cricketers it has across skillsets. Their ability to perform under pressure in big moments is what defines them,” he said.
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2 months ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey
The first edition of the reinstated Sportstar Aces Awards, held on February 15, 2019, witnessed an unfiltered yet endearing moment when Manu Bhaker, then a prodigious talent, stepped onto the stage. Fresh from the rigours of a day-long training session and a four-hour journey, Manu found herself at a rare loss for words. Named Young Athlete of the Year (girl), she could only manage a sheepish smile and the words, “I don’t know what to say.
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Feb 12, 2025 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey |Paul Fein
Harendra Singh’s official designation may read ‘Head Coach, India women’s hockey team’, but even the most astute observers could easily mistake his demeanour for that of a senior professor at a prestigious institute. He carries himself with an air of solemn erudition, each of his measured movements steeped in an unspoken authority.
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Feb 3, 2025 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Santadeep Dey |Paul Fein
This is a story of resilience and perseverance. When a knee injury in 1995 cut short Pratima Barwa’s journey towards becoming an India hockey player, she took up coaching. In Simdega, a rural district around 135km south of Ranchi, the 45-year-old trained Salima Tete, Sangita Kumari and Beauty Dungdung. All of them went on to become Indian hockey superstars. Just when everything was seemingly falling in place, Pratima contracted the coronavirus.
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Feb 3, 2025 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Suresh Menon |Santadeep Dey |Ayon Sengupta |Paul Fein
Time was when sport was seen as soft power, like movies and cultural exchange programmes. Not anymore. As Miguel Delaney tells us in States of Play, the most significant recent book on sports (or indeed politics) football is hard power. Its world is ruled by kings, Presidents and Prime Ministers. It is an extraordinary story taking in the power shift from Europe to the Middle East from men in suits and varying accents to men in traditional Arab dress.
