India beat Pakistan 3-1

India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 3-1 to storm into the summit clash of the 4th men's Under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament in Dhaka on Thursday. 

It was the Indians who were more clinical in front of the goal, as three minutes from half time they doubled their lead through a penalty corner conversion by Dilpreet Singh. 

India will meet hosts Bangladesh in the final on Friday.

Centre announces a total cash reward of Rs. 90 lakh for the medal winners of Rio Paralympics

The Centre on Wednesday announced a total cash reward of Rs. 90 lakh for the medal winners of Rio Paralympics. 

Gold medal winners -- paralympic high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu and javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia -- will be rewarded with Rs. 30 lakh each while Deepa Malik, who won silver medal in shotput, will get Rs. 20 lakh and high jumper Varun Singh Bhati, who won a bronze medal at the Rio games, will be given Rs. 10 lakh, an official statement said. 

The cash reward will be given by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot under the Awareness Generation and Publicity (AGP) scheme. 

"Indian para-athletes bagged impressive four medals at the Rio Paralympics 2016 and made history. The success of para athletes has made India proud. The department has decided to give a cash prize of total Rs. 90 lakh to the medal winners," Mr Gehlot said. 

It was India's best-ever performance in Paralympics history with Thangavelu making a leap of 1.89 metres to bag the gold medal while Mr Bhati jumped his personal best of 1.86 m to finish third and won bronze. 

Mr Jhajharia clinched gold in javelin throw while Malik bagged silver in short put and became the first Indian women to win a medal at the Paralympics games.

Official emblem of Fifa U-17 World Cup India 2017 unveiled

The Local Organising Committee of the Fifa U-17 World Cup India 2017 on Tuesday unveiled the official emblem for what will be the country's first international football event.

The ceremony held in Goa was attended by Fifa President Gianni Infantino, and Chairman of the All India Football Federation Praful Patel along with Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel.

Shaped like the World Cup trophy, the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 emblem combines the global look of the beautiful game with a quintessentially Indian feel.

The FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 will happen in six venues across the country during the month of October 2017.

Infantino, who is on his first visit to India since being elected the FIFA President, also mentioned that its needs to be made sure that there is a "steady growth of Football in India."

Union Sports minister Vijay Goel said it's a great oppurtunity for the youth to make their marlk in international arena.

The U-17 World Cup will see participation from 24 countries.

The teams will be divided in six groups with each group playing their league matches in Goa, Kochi, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati.

Sania Mirza maintains top position in the latest WTA women's doubles rankings

India's Sania Mirza maintained her numero uno position in the latest WTA women's doubles ranking following her recent victory in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, partnering Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic. 

Sania with 9730 points continued to be world number one in doubles but only five points separate her from her estranged partner Martina Hingis. 

Sania and Strycova had earlier ousted Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe in the final of the Cincinnati Open last month. 

Sania and Strycova have lost just once since pairing up in Cincinnati, reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open and taking home a second title at the Pan Pacific Open. 

Among Indian men, Sakth Myneni is the highest place singles player. Myneni, who entered the main draw of the US Open after winning three rounds in the Qualifying event, dropped a rung to be placed 138th in the list. 

Second highest-ranked Indian singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan, who featured in the recent Davis Cup tie against Spain, plummeted 10 places to 229, while out of action Yuki Bhambri dropped a whopping 62 places to be placed 282nd in the chart. 

In the men's doubles chart, Rohan Bopanna is static at 18th, while veteran Leander Paes has moved four places to 60th.

Latest ICC Rankings

Courtesy his 10-wicket haul in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand, India off-spinner R Ashwin on Wednesday gained a place to be second in the latest ICC Rankings and another good performance in the second match in Kolkata will propel him to the coveted top spot.

Ashwin's match haul of 10 for 225, that helped India notch a 197-run victory in the first Test, saw him overtake England's James Anderson by one point.

He is now within seven points of number-one ranked Dale Steyn of South Africa, who leads the Rankings for Test Bowlers with 878 points.

A strong performance in the Kolkata Test, starting Friday, will potentially see Ashwin top the bowling charts for the second time in 2016 after first claiming the number-one position last year following the Boxing Day Tests.

Ashwin also contributed with a useful innings of 40 to consolidate his position at the top of the list of all-rounders. Ashwin has reached a career-best rating of 450, opening up a 66-point gap with second-placed Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh.

New Zealand captain Williamson has similarly edged England's Joe Root by one point with innings of 75 and 25 in Kolkata to reach 879 points in the Rankings for Test Batsmen, which is led by Australia captain Steve Smith with 906 points.

However, to move ahead or edge even closer to Smith, Williamson will have to produce strong performances in the remaining two Tests.

There was not much to cheer for other New Zealand batsmen apart from Williamson, but for India, opener Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara made significant gains.

Vijay and Pujara, who became the first Indian pair in 10 years to notch century partnerships in both innings of a Test match, moved up from joint-20th position to joint-16th position. 

Other Indian batsmen to move up were Lokesh Rahul, who gained five ranks to reach 57th position, and Rohit Sharma, who gained two slots to reach 52nd rank.

Victory in its 500th Test means India is now one victory away from reclaiming the ICC Test Championship mace from Pakistan. India had entered the series trailing Pakistan by one point and needed to win the series to move ahead of its traditional rival.

Meanwhile, India's Ravindra Jadeja, who took six wickets in the Kanpur match and also contributed with the bat in the lower order, gained a place of to be seventh.

Ajinkya Rahane dropped out of top-10 after losing three positions to be 11th and India captain Virat Kohli, who struggled to score in both the innings is now at number 20, a, loss of four positions.