Russia  

Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova, one of the world's most recognisable and highest-paid sportswomen, on February 26, announced her retirement at the age of 32. "Tennis - I'm saying goodbye," Sharapova said in an article for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines. She added, "After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I'm ready to scale another mountain - to compete on a different type of terrain." Sharapova burst onto the scene as a supremely gifted teenager and won her Grand Slams before serving a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open. The Russian former world number one's ranking is currently 373rd. Sharapova has hardly played in the past year because of long-standing shoulder problems. Watch this video to know more about her illustrious career.

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Handshake, my name is Amal Chowdhury and today we will be talking about how India-Russia relations are going to reach new heights. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today interacted with a delegation from Russian media. Speaking to the delegation, Pradhan said, “2019 was a landmark year which boosted the bilateral relations between India and Russia to hitherto unscaled heights.

A video of Russian military cadets singing the famous Hindi patriotic song “Aye Watan” has gone viral on social media. Twitterati heaped praises on Russian counterparts

India and Russia will hold their maiden Bilateral Regional Forum at the level of Russian Provinces and the Indian States be held next year to dismantle the barriers of trade at the regional level. This was decided at a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in Brasilia on the sidelines of BRICS Summit.

Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China are partaking in the BRICS Summit wherein Chinese President invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an informal summit in China in 2020. 

PM Modi will meet Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS summit, to discuss ways to enhance bilateral strategic partnership. He will also hold separate bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Brazil for two days to participate in the 11th BRICS summit alongside leaders from Russia, China and South Africa. The theme for this year's summit is 'Economic growth for an innovative future' and this is the sixth time that PM Modi will be participating. A large business delegation from India is also expected to be present during the visit.
 

Defence minister Rajnath Singh paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi in Moscow. Singh is on a three-day visit to Russia during which he will co-chair the 19th India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation.
 

During his three-day visit to Russia, defence minister Rajnath Singh will discuss defence co-production between India and Russia. Singh will also inaugurate 'India-Russia Defence Industry Cooperation Conference' 

Mandeep Singh struck twice to help India win the first leg of the Olympic hockey qualifiers. Mandeep (24th, 53rd minutes) scored two field goals while Harmanpreet Singh (5th) and SV Sunil (48th) also hit the target for India against Russia

Yana and Natasha who had come to visit India during Diwali festival not only learnt yoga, but also taught it to school students at Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh.

In this week’s Sportstop (October 7 to 13), there is good news from Indian cricket. The Virat Kohli-led side created a world record when they thrashed South Africa by an innings and 137 runs in the second Test in Pune. Also, Mary Kom won a historic eighth boxing world championship medal in Russia