Olympic-bound <keyword id="19926485" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sumit-Nagal" source="keywords">Sumit Nagal</keyword> continued his ascent in the ATP singles chart, climbing to a <keyword id="22433489" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="career-high" source="keywords">career-high</keyword> ranking of 68. The 26-year-old rose five spots in the latest <keyword id="22082986" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ATP-ranking" source="keywords">ATP ranking</keyword> list released on Monday. His previous best was 71. Nagal thus moves past former world No. 71 Sashi Menon to become the fourth highest-ranked <keyword id="19927125" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian" source="keywords">Indian</keyword> man since 1973. <keyword id="20211877" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vijay-Amritraj" source="keywords">Vijay Amritraj</keyword> (ranked 18th in 1980), <keyword id="20211879" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ramesh-Krishnan" source="keywords">Ramesh Krishnan</keyword> (ranked 23rd in 1985) and <keyword id="20211878" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Somdev-Devvarman" source="keywords">Somdev Devvarman</keyword> (ranked 62nd in 2011) are the only other Indian players who have held a higher rank than Nagal. A string of impressive results in recent times has not only helped Nagal improve his ranking but also make the cut for singles event at the <keyword id="20242595" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paris-Games" source="keywords">Paris Games</keyword>. Nagal, who will be the sole Indian in the men's singles event at the Paris <keyword id="19933819" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Olympics" source="keywords">Olympics</keyword>, has so far logged 779 ATP points. The year began with a win against Alexander Bublik, the 31st seed from Kazkakhstan at the Australian Open. He also competed at the French Open and Wimbledon. He had won the men's singles crown at the Heilbronn Neckarcup 2024 Challenger event in Germany earlier this month and the Chennai Open in February. Nagal, who is currently the best-ranked Indian singles player, has won four ATP Challenger titles since 2023 and Heilbronn was his fourth title on clay.

Sumit Nagal attains career-high ATP ranking of 68

<ul><li>Sony Sports has played a key role in bringing non-cricket sports to India.</li><li>This year, Sony Sports is the official broadcaster of the once-in-a-four-year global sports event, Tokyo Olympics.</li><li>Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India tells us how the broadcaster is trying to popularize other sports in India, its plans to immerse consumers with innovative marketing and more.</li></ul>With the lockdown being enforced, subsequent stoppage of play on the field and IPL getting postponed, advertisers have been starved of a good sporting tournament. After the pandemic, many sports properties have either been cancelled or postponed, directly affecting India’s ad revenue and sponsorship pie. While India’s most worshipped sport, cricket, still dominates viewership and sponsorship, <keyword id="3132005" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sony-Pictures-Network">Sony Pictures Network</keyword> (SNP) has given its fans more choices between sporting events and SonyLiv has given them options in terms of what, when and how much to watch, leading to a rise in demand for subscription viewing in live sports. After a long, dry spell, millions of Indians are expected to tune into Tokyo Olympics this year. Sponsors and brands have also started seeing the Olympics as the one occasion to capitalise on the media and consumer attention. As a result, Sony Sports has seen an uptick in demand from sponsors and advertisers across categories for the summer games. To help its advertisers get the best bang for their buck, SPN launched an ‘innovative’ advertising format ‘Split-screen ads,’ which has <a href="https://twitter.com/Archit_0106/status/1418542834395729923">gained </a><a href="https://twitter.com/PrashantMUFC/status/1420988968238161920">mixed </a><a href="https://twitter.com/LifeIsAnElation/status/1418552243893116935">reviews </a>on social media. We caught up with Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India to further understand what kind of response the broadcaster and streaming player has seen from advertisers and sponsors, how it is trying to increase non-sporting events’ viewership in india <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. This year, brands across categories have started to roll out campaigns celebrating the inspirational journey of athletes. This wasn't the case a few years ago. More and more advertisers are exploring international sports that represent India. Are advertisers open to exploring sports beyond cricket now?" text="Q. This year, brands across categories have started to roll out campaigns celebrating the inspirational journey of athletes. This wasn't the case a few years ago. More and more advertisers are exploring international sports that represent India. Are advertisers open to exploring sports beyond cricket now?">Q. This year, brands across categories have started to roll out campaigns celebrating the inspirational journey of athletes. This wasn't the case a few years ago. More and more advertisers are exploring international sports that represent India. Are advertisers open to exploring sports beyond cricket now?</cmsannotation> Indians have always been extremely supportive of the Indian athletes when they compete at a global stage. Their performances are celebrated as it is a huge thing to even get to participate, let alone winning a medal at Olympics. More and more business houses/organizations/brands have started promoting various athletes and or Indian contingent. Sports in India is growing dramatically as an entertainment option beyond just cricket. This year. Sony Sports has embarked on a mission to popularize the athletes participating in the <keyword id="7932992" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="olympic-games-tokyo-2020">Olympic Games Tokyo 2020</keyword> and to make them household names. Sony Sports launched the grandest ever campaign in the history of Indian Olympics, Hum Honge Kamyab to galvanize the whole nation to cheer for the India contingent. From the honorable Prime minister of India himself to the sports minister as well as industrialists, sports personalities, philanthropists, Bollywood Superstars, Youtube influencers joined us in our endeavor. Sony Sports has collaborated with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as well as eminent personalities and joining the brigade are Union Minister for I&amp;B and Youth Affairs &amp; Sports, Shri Anurag Thakur, General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Mr. N.P. Singh, MD &amp; CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India, along with Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Sajjan Jindal, Sudha Murty, Nita Ambani, Gautam Adani, Rana Daggubati, Yuvraj Singh, Anjali Bhagwat, Parth Jindal, Boman Irani, Farhan Akhtar, Sonakshi Sinha, Johnny Lever, Ali Fazal, Adille Sumariwala, Arshad Warsi, Pullela Gopichand, Vijender Singh, Anjali Bhagwat, Harsha Bhogle, Shankar Mahadevan, Anurag Basu, and many more to catalyze the Olympic momentum in the nation for the landmark event. This was unprecedented and Sony Sports’ efforts have pumped up the volume of Olympics in India and the #Olympicsjosh decibels have gone up to another level. <div type="Youtube" id="-bnwo0ezgQE" title="Watch PV Sindhu, Manu Bhaker, Mary Kom, Deepak Kumar, Hockey (M) &amp; others LIVE, TOM, July 25 on Sony" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-bnwo0ezgQE/mqdefault.jpg"></div> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. Can you tell us what kind of interest you have seen from advertisers and brands?" text="Q. Can you tell us what kind of interest you have seen from advertisers and brands?">Q. Can you tell us what kind of interest you have seen from advertisers and brands?</cmsannotation> We have received a phenomenal response from advertisers and we have got sponsors on board across categories like beverages, FMCG, education, automobiles, banking, finance, gaming, sports foundations amongst others. The sponsors are Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd., LIC, JSW, MPL, Hero MotoCorp, Amul, Reserve Bank of India, AMFI and other advertisers include Visa, Byju’s, Adani Group, Herbalife Nutrition &amp; Lenovo and more. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. This once-in-a-four-year sports event attracts eyeballs from across the world hosting sports such as shooting, wrestling, long jump, and hockey. Which sport do you think will perform the best in India in terms of viewership?" text="Q. This once-in-a-four-year sports event attracts eyeballs from across the world hosting sports such as shooting, wrestling, long jump, and hockey. Which sport do you think will perform the best in India in terms of viewership?">Q. This once-in-a-four-year sports event attracts eyeballs from across the world hosting sports such as shooting, wrestling, long jump, and hockey. Which sport do you think will perform the best in India in terms of viewership?</cmsannotation> We expect great Sports like Wrestling, Shooting, Archery and Hockey, which have also done extremely well on TV in the past, due to the medal winning performances by Indian Athletes. Additionally, there has been high interest to watch Athletics and Gymnastics, owing to the visually engaging nature of the sports. During the 2016 Rio Olympics, Badminton had the highest viewership owing to PV Sindhu winning a silver medal. The final match between PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin was watched by 42 million viewers across the country. This year, we have our largest contingent ever of 127 athletes travelling to Tokyo and the whole nation will want to support and watch our athletes in the various sports disciplines they are competing in like boxing, wrestling, tennis, athletics, badminton, hockey, shooting, archery, weightlifting, Equestrian, Table tennis and more. Some of the athletes that the audiences are already looking out for are Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary in shooting, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia in wrestling, Amit Panghal and Mary Kom in boxing, Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, PV Sindu in badminton and more. Also, for the first time, we will see participation in fencing with Bhavani Devi and Fouaad Mirza making it to the equestrian event which will also attract audiences. Additionally, to reach out to a wider audience and engage viewers across India, Sony Sports will have a Live wraparound studio show called SPORTS EXTRAAA with a distinguished panel that comprising former Olympians and legendary Indian athletes like Vijender Singh, Gagan Narang, Karnam Malleswari, Anjali Bhagwat, Anju Bobby George, Sakshi Malik, Viren Rasquinha, Somdev Devvarman, Trupti Murgunde, Rahul Banerjee, Kripa Shankar and Satish Shivalingam. We will also have the world-renowned Sprinter and four-time Olympic medalist, Yohan Blake, considered to be the second fastest man after Usain Bolt as a marquee expert on the show. The comprehensive coverage for the global event will be broadcast LIVE in four languages: SONY TEN 2 and SONY SIX channels in English, SONY TEN 3 channels in Hindi and in Tamil &amp; Telugu on the newly launched SONY TEN 4 channels. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. How do brands get to benefit from advertising on Olympics through Sony this year? What is your advice to brands who are advertising? How can they get the best bang for their buck?" text="Q. How do brands get to benefit from advertising on Olympics through Sony this year? What is your advice to brands who are advertising? How can they get the best bang for their buck?">Q. How do brands get to benefit from advertising on Olympics through Sony this year? What is your advice to brands who are advertising? How can they get the best bang for their buck?</cmsannotation> The Olympic Games is an extremely premium global sporting event, the greatest show on earth with 200+ countries, 11000+ athletes across 339 events in 33 different sports, encompassing a total of 50 disciplines. As I mentioned earlier, this year, we have rolled out the grandest campaign for this showcase event involving 30+ luminaries across the country. The sheer association to the Olympics for any brand will create and drive great brand perception and awareness value. We have offered value-based propositions to our clients and have ensured that we amplify their associations with athletes in the Indian contingent which they might be sponsoring. The brands have also been given the opportunity to ride on the back of the amazing build- up programming which we have locally produced adding to the brands association and visibility. Series like “Torch bearers” are resonating well with our audiences. We are also excited to offer a new breakthrough innovation “Split Screen” advertisement opportunity during the live broadcast. This will help the brands break away from the clutter and amplifies the brand’s visibility manifold without intruding into the viewing experiences of our audiences. This new technology is a game changer and will surely get the best ROI for our key sponsors. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. How do you think sports marketing has changed in India in the last few years? Any interesting trends that you are expecting to see as we move forward?" text="Q. How do you think sports marketing has changed in India in the last few years? Any interesting trends that you are expecting to see as we move forward?">Q. How do you think sports marketing has changed in India in the last few years? Any interesting trends that you are expecting to see as we move forward?</cmsannotation> While Indian Cricket will dominate viewership and revenues, Sony Sports has been consistently making efforts to massify and popularize other sports. Sony Sports is a global multi-sporting arena and sports marketing here, is not only talks to the purists but also focuses on attracting fence-sitters and newer audiences to join the Sony Sports community. This has paid off and every year our viewership for sports like WWE, UFC, football properties like UEFA Champions League and non-India cricket is steadily growing. Even the recently concluded UEFA EURO 2020 on our sports channels has seen massive growth compared to the last edition in 2016 by almost 70% Sports as an entertainment quotient is only going to grow.

Sony Sports has embarked on a mission to popularize the athletes participating in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and to make them household names: Rajesh Kaul of SPN

<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="ESPN2" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/50f6ab8469bedd650800001b-960/jerzy-janowicz-2013-australian-open-meltdown.jpg"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/50f6ab8469bedd650800001b-850/jerzy-janowicz-2013-australian-open-meltdown.jpg?maxX=620" border="0" alt="jerzy janowicz 2013 australian open meltdown" width="620" /></a></div>ESPN2</div>
Jerzy Janowicz suffered an ugly on-court meltdown at the <keyword id="22576" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Australian-Open">Australian Open</keyword> today when he disagreed with a call in his match with Somdev Devvarman of India.
He had set point in the first set when a Devvarman shot that appeared to be out was called in.
Janowicz — a 22-year-old from Poland who is ranked a career-high 26th in the world right now — fell to his knees and started screaming, "How many times?!?!" over and over again.
During the changeover he confronted the chair umpire. When the umpire gave him a warning for dissent, he (kind of brilliantly) said, "For what?"
Remarkably, Janowicz managed to pull it together after the meltdown. He lost that first set, but won three of the next four to win the match.
Janowicz is 6'8" and has a monster serve, so this probably won't be the last we see of him:
<iframe width="620" height="349" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7hfTDuISM4U#t=20"></iframe>
Some of the best moments from the tantrum:
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="ESPN2" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/50f6ab1969beddea02000012-960/jerzy-janowicz-meltdown.jpg"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/50f6ab1969beddea02000012-850-467/jerzy-janowicz-meltdown.jpg" border="0" alt="jerzy janowicz 2013 australian open meltdown" width="620" /></a></div>ESPN2</div>
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><a title_source="ESPN2" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/50f6ab4269bedd730800000a-960/jerzy-janowicz-perplexed.jpg"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/50f6ab4269bedd730800000a-851-467/jerzy-janowicz-perplexed.jpg" border="0" alt="jerzy janowicz 2013 australian open meltdown" width="620" /></a></div>ESPN2</div>

Polish Tennis Player Throws An Epic Tantrum At The Australian Open, Wins Anyway

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/42370246.cms" /> With big names dropping out and participating sports contingent pruned, will India have an impressive medal haul at the 2014 <keyword id="84384" type="SPORT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Asian-Games">Asian Games</keyword>? The question is on the minds of many Indians who are looking forward to carve a niche for their country at the Asian Games, also known as Asiad, to be held at Incheon, South Korea between September 19 and October 4. 
 
The current contingent of Indian team will have 679 members, who have been selected out of a list of 942 members. Among the members who will be in South Korea for the games include 516 athletes, and 163 coaches and support staff. 
 Will the medal tally improve this time around? The question gains significance for India since it is a member of the South Asian Zone of the <keyword id="98294" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Olympic-Council-of-Asia">Olympic Council of Asia</keyword> (OCA) and has been participating in games since its inception (in 1951). India is among the first five founding members of Asian Games Federation, and has successfully hosted the event on two occasions in the history of Asiad Games – the inaugural round in 1951 and then later in 1982. 
 
The country is also among the only seven countries that have competed in all Asian Games editions, apart from countries such as Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand. 
 
It must be some relief that India has ‘at least’ one gold medal at every Asian game, and has been ranked within top 10 nations of the medal tally except in the year 1990. In all, India has bagged 545 medals across sporting segments over the years in Asiad games. 
 
Though India is confident of bettering record from Guangzhou event held last in 2010, financial concerns and off field controversies are bound to impact the overall performance of the participating sportspersons. 
 
The cricket-worshipping nation has always held other sports in somewhat less important level when compared to the passion with which Indians follow them. India has made significant stride in improving its medal position from eighth in 2002 and 2006 Asian games, to sixth in the last Asiad in Guangzhou. This in some way has rekindled hopes of Indian sports enthusiasts. 
 
Clearly encouraged by the success of medal haul in the last common wealth games, the Indian Olympic Association had proposed a huge contingent of sportspersons to participate in the upcoming Asiad. 
 <keyword id="63032" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sports-Authority-of-India">Sports Authority of India</keyword> (SAI) resisted this and sought Prime Minister office’s intervention to create a more affordable and achievable team that could participate in the games and improve medal tally. In other words, SAI only wanted names of those who were highly capable of winning medals than those who would use it as a platform to hone their skills. Intervention done, the team size was brought down. Officials accompanying the sportspersons were also scaled down thus making the team leaner and efficiency oriented one compared to previous years. 
Now, what’s lacking is the presence of ‘star players’ and those big Indian names that have become brands in their chosen areas. 
 
India’s shooters are in super shape and SAI is hoping they would largely contribute to country’s medal-tally at the Asiad. Seasons tennis stars such as Somdev Devvarman, Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, and Rohan Bopanna have decided to give the game a miss, leaving a huge question mark on the medal part. Sqaush ace Dipika Pallikal, who earlier exuded confidence of bringing home a couple of medals, also expressed her displeasure at some not-so-healthy selection criteria of the games with her game partner Joshna Chinnappa. 
 
Top wrestler Sushil Kumar who became a legend of sorts after his astounding victory at last the Olympics will also be giving the Asiad a miss owing to his rigorous preparation for the Olympics games to be held in 2016. 
 Apart from shooters, India will now have to focus on shuttlers to bring home some glory; all our hopes are now on top seed players <keyword id="30618" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Saina-Nehwal">Saina Nehwal</keyword> and <keyword id="501707" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="PV-Sindhu">PV Sindhu</keyword>. 
 
While the chief complaint against India’s poor performance in sports is dues to less exposure to international sporting circuits and events, along with poor training facilities, it still remains to be seen whether a leaner contingent with less burden of ‘officials’ will overtake Guangzhou in medal tally. If that happens, India would have learnt a smarter lesson and can have a better sports future.

You Searched For "Somdev Devvarman" and got 4 results

Sumit Nagal attains career-high ATP ranking of 68

PTI

Sony Sports has embarked on a mission to popularize the athletes participating in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and to make them household names: Rajesh Kaul of SPN

Karuna Sharma

Polish Tennis Player Throws An Epic Tantrum At The Australian Open, Wins Anyway

Tony Manfred

Pruned Indian Contingent At Asian Games: Will The Medal Haul Happen?

Preetam Kaushik