Shahid Judge

The disappointment of losing the Olympics final in a split decision weighed more on Ben Whittaker than the joy of achieving something not many get to do – stand on an Olympic podium. He later realised what he missed.

The final scoresheet had no timing put along with Denmark’s performance, but they did make it through to the gold medal race against Italy.

From cradles of the sport to a Naxal stronghold, these are the larger-than-life back-stories of the Indian hockey's giant-killers

Is this the first time the US and Russia have been involved in an Olympic spat? How have the Americans been with athletes from other nations with tense diplomatic ties?

Granted, the Olympic title is arguably not the most coveted accolade in the sport – though it has picked up in significance since Beijing 2008. But not winning it would have hurt Novak Djokovic nonetheless.

It was always going to be a hard task for Sharath to take on a player with many tags – The Dictator, The Dragon, The Captain, The Greatest Of All Time, and his name translates to ‘horse dragon – and even more accolades.

Empty stands, but the Japan-China rivalry is as intense as ever

After taking 16 shots in the women’s 10m air pistol qualification event at the Asaka Shooting Range, Manu Bhaker's gun started to malfunction. It was not the start to her maiden Olympic campaign that the teenager had hoped for.

The 26-year-old’s playing style involves no small degree of deception. She uses a long-pimpled rubber to slow down the pace in rallies, find an opening, switch racquet faces, and increase the tempo with a single shot to throw off the opponent. In the first two games it was the second part of her game that she didn’t follow.

The win on Saturday came the hard way. The match was riddled with errors, as Nagal was guilty of conceding 56 unforced errors to Istomin’s 51 – they scored 11 and 12 winners respectively.

The background score during the Parade of Nations might have taken some viewers back to the past, or even the present, when punching buttons to clear a level in a Japanese video game was the favourite pastime.

On Saturday, when the Briton plays Manika Batra in the first round of the women’s singles event, she will mark her debut at the Olympics – the grandest stage for the sport.

The most common aspects of an Olympic Games will now be seen in a completely different way.

From pillion-riding on her brother's bicycle to reach the judo academy in an obscure village in Manipur, judoka Shushila Devi has reached Tokyo with a bag full of dreams and memories of her village.

Only three players, Nagal (men’s singles) and the women’s doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will don India colours at the tennis events in Tokyo.

When the rubber comes in contact with the ball, the pips bend and put the opposite effect on the spin the ball came with.

The data showed that when commentators praised a darker-skinned athlete, it was more to do with the player's athleticism. For lighter-skinned players, it was more to do with intelligence, leadership, mentality and work ethic.

Modern-day archers fighting for medals also do a Robin Hood. By no means a common feat, archerypassion.com rates each shot has a 1 in 4,000 chance of being a ‘Robin Hood.’

The International Olympic Committee has published Sport-Specific Regulations (SSR) which specify what happens if an athlete tests Covid-19 positive at the Tokyo Olympics. A look at the regulations for different disciplines.

With a Junior Grand Slam title under his belt, Banerjee’s route to the professional stream is clear. But with Columbia University lined up next year, he’s still contemplating his decision to enter the US college tennis stream.

With the 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2 win, an American player of Indian origin, Samir Banerjee had reached the junior boys Wimbledon final.

For a 39-year-old player returning to the tour after 14 months, after two knee surgeries and just eight matches under the belt, a Wimbledon quarter-final finish is not a bad result.

Korda’s two daughters Jessica and Nelly are star golfers, the latter the current World No.1. And his youngest child, Sebastian, on Friday reached the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championship, on debut.

India’s top two men’s doubles specialists, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan failed to make the combined ranking cut-off that would have earned them a berth at the Games starting July 23.