The Italian and Japanese battled shoulder-to-shoulder as the leading pair in the final 4km, but the Italian coped well with the pressure and accelerated in the final 300m to seal the gold medal.
The winner of the two-day rubber will qualify for the World Group I stage that is scheduled to take place later this year.
Norwegian Ski Federation said it does not want Russian athletes
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was condemned by the sporting community on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin's country losing hosting rights for the UEFA Champions League final while Formula One drivers said it was "wrong" to race there this year.
In the Open section, the India 'B' team, which has been in sparkling form, had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan as the in-form D Gukesh lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the reigning world rapid chess champion.
Jaishankar also met his Iranian counterpart H Amirabdollahian and held productive discussions on bilateral economic cooperation, Afghanistan and the joint comprehensive plan of action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal.
Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis won the 10m P6 air pistol mixed team event to clinch India's third gold medal at the World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Chateauroux, France on Wednesday.
Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer player who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and best-known athletes in modern history, died on Thursday at the age of 82.
Russia were scheduled to host Poland in a men's World Cup qualifying playoff on March 24, with the winners set to play Sweden or the Czech Republic five days later. All three teams had refused to play against Russia.
Aseem Chhabra highlights 10 films that moved him, films that may show up in theatres near you.
Sweden's Elias Ymer replaced Berrettini in the men's draw, organisers said.
Indian-American engineer-entrepreneur Shrina Kurani challenges a 30-year Republican veteran in a US Congressional race in a district that is predominantly white.
Olympic-bound paddlers, Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das, will spearhead Indian challenge in men's and women's competitions respectively at the Swedish Open to be held at Helsingborg between June 7 and 12 and the Brazil Open at Santos from June 13 to 17.
Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah made Olympic history in Tokyo Tuesday, blazing to victory in the 200 metres to complete an unprecedented women's sprinting "double-double".
This comes after another global report by a US government-funded NGO, Freedom House downgraded India's status from "free" to "partly free" and claimed that "political rights and civil liberties have eroded in India since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014".
List of French Open men's singles champions:
From the peak of $3.67 trillion in January, India's market cap has eroded by $676 billion amid rising bond yields and a record-breaking sell-off by overseas investors.
Favourites Russia Tennis Federation opened their Davis Cup Finals campaign with a resounding victory over Ecuador, Britain began with a win against France and Italy eased into the quarter-finals with a win over Colombia on Saturday.
Spain captain Sergio Busquets has tested positive for COVID-19, the national team announced on Sunday eight days before their first match at Euro 2020.
16-year old Praggnanandhaa halted his three-match losing streak to shock the higher-rated Vidit Gujrathi
China on Saturday maintained silence on India's abstention at the voting at the UNHRC on the human rights situation in Xinjiang
The other five games, hard fought, were drawn. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen and Andrey Esipenko trail the leaders by half a point.
Hungarian coach Akos says Vinesh is a terrific student of the game and he has high hopes that she will be fighting for a gold in Tokyo.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-day visit to Germany, Denmark and France from May 2 to 4 to further expand bilateral ties in diverse areas.
With Poland sure to rely just as heavily on Robert Lewandowski in their matches against Spain and Sweden, their hopes will rest on coach Paulo Sousa finding a system that better suits their top player.
A long-range strike from Jackie Groenen sent European Champions the Netherlands into their first women's World Cup final as they edged Sweden 1-0 after extra time in their last-four clash on Wednesday.
Italy face Turkey at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on Friday in the tournament's first match.
American Justin Ress won gold in the 50m backstroke in dramatic circumstances at the World Championships in Budapest on Saturday after officials overturned his initial disqualification following a lengthy review.
Olympic champion Katie Ledecky stormed to a fifth straight 800m freestyle title at the swimming World Championships in Budapest on Friday while home favourite Kristof Milak added to his 200m butterfly crown with victory in the 100m butterfly.
The blasts in Stockholm indicate a possible link to the so-called 313 Brigade of Ilyas Kashmiri, says B Raman
Gujrathi settled for a draw against Russia's Andrey Esipenko to stay in the lead with three points
A summary of the country's athletes' showing at the Tokyo Games on Thursday.
The rumblings of discontent from Righteous Europe over Qatar's admittedly appalling human rights record can only be viewed as deeply disingenuous and phoney, argues Kanika Datta.
Maykel Masso of Cuba won the event with a best effort of 8.35m while World Championships silver medallist and reigning Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece (8.31m) and Marquis Dendy (8.31m) of USA finished second and third respectively.
The Rafale maritime fighter aircraft on Monday demonstrated its operational capability at a naval facility in Goa as the Navy plans to acquire a fleet of combat jets for its indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant, people familiar with the development said.
A dramatic stoppage-time goal from Toni Kroos gave holders Germany a 2-1 win over Sweden on Saturday to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup last 16.
Kamila Valieva is one of the youngest Olympic athletes to test positive for a banned substance
A majority of the Indian consumers are bullish about their financial situation in the next one year, but have raised concerns over rising cost of goods and services, which is affecting their purchasing decisions, according to an EY report. Moreover, uncertainty around managing rising living costs is driving over 80 per cent in India to save more money, said the findings of the ninth edition of the EY Future Consumer Index for India. The Index for India reaffirms the "positive outlook" of the Indian consumers as 77 per cent expect positive changes in the financial situation, in the next one year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Berlin on Monday on the first leg of his three-nation Europe trip during which he will hold detailed bilateral discussions with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and co-chair the India-Germany inter-governmental consultations.
Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses, the UK's ministry of defence said on Thursday.
