top Neeraj Chopra's Victory Has Paved the Way for New Chapter in History of Indian Sports

indian athletics legend PT Usha praised India’s golden boy Neeraj Chopra, who clinched the gold medal in the men’s javelin at the Tokyo Olympics and turned 24 on Christmas Eve.

“Neeraj Chopra’s victory has paved the way for a new chapter in the history of Indian Sports. The achievement has certainly lifted the morale of our country and built more interest and brought focus to the field of athletics. Over the past few years, other sports have taken the spotlight at the Olympics, and it’s great to see athletics coming to the forefront once again," PT Usha told ANI.

PT Usha also urged people to applaud Neeraj for inspiring the youth as became only the second Indian individual gold medallist after Abhinav Bindra.

“We need to applaud Neeraj for implanting the will of ‘We Can’ amongst the youth of India with his spectacular win in the Olympics and motivating young athletes to keep working towards their goals and dreams. The win has certainly ignited hope among people," PT Usha added.

PT Usha said that the performance of Indian athletes at Tokyo Olympics has undoubtedly set a benchmark for others.

“The performance by our Indian athletes at Tokyo Olympics has certainly ignited a new passion for athletics," she said.

" It was heartening to see them deliver a performance like that and if they can learn from their mistakes and improve their performances further, we as a country can set a benchmark for others. As athletes, all we must strive for is consistency in our performance and determination to achieve our target. Focus must be a key factor in the work we do as athletes," she added

eicester City manager Brendan Rodgers believes his side will recover quickly from their agonising penalty shoot-out exit from the League Cup when they face Premier League leaders Manchester City on Sunday.

The Foxes twice conceded a two-goal lead in their midweek League Cup quarter-final against Liverpool — including an equaliser deep into added time — before losing on spot-kicks.

Adding to the pain of defeat, Leicester defenders Caglar Soyuncu and Ricardo Pereira were forced off while star striker Jamie Vardy played the last 20 minutes with a tight hamstring.

None of which augurs well for Leicester’s fixture against Premier League leaders City, even though the Foxes have won with two of their last four meetings against Pep Guardiola’s side

“That’s what I’ve always had from these players. They have been competitive against the best teams in the country and we saw that, we just couldn’t do enough to get over the line."

He added: “They (City) are playing well at the minute, so we will just have to see where we are at and then devise a plan with the players available and see what we can do.

“It doesn’t look like there are too many (City) players out, they’ve had a free week without a midweek game. They are a brilliant side with technical players, world-class players, and they are used to winning.

“We’ve done OK against them but it’s going to be a big challenge for us and we need to play with the spirit we played with against Liverpool."

City are on an eight-match winning run in the league and have failed to win only one of their last 11 games.