Manisha Bhanwala went out of the bronze medal race after losing her repechage round 0-9 to Bulgaria's Bilyana Dudova.
Arjun Erigaisi will start as the favourite against veteran Hungarian Peter Leko, while R Praggnanandhaa faces the inventive Daniil Dubov.
Saarika was dominant in the 53kg weight class. She outclassed Sevval Cayir by technical superiority (12-2) and did not lose a single point in her quarterfinal against China's Tianyu Sun, winning 8-0.
India's young women wresters expectedly struggled at the big stage as three of them were eliminated in Zagreb, Croatia Tuesday, but Priya Malik (76kg) stayed in medal contention
Wrestler Neha Sangwan, who was disqualified from the recent Under-20 World Championships for being overweight, was on Monday dropped from the senior World Championships squad.
The development comes as relations between the two countries showed marked improvement following the four-day military conflict between Pakistan and India in May.
In women's singles, Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist and 2019 world champion, will have to recover from the shock defeat against fellow Indian Unnati Hooda at the China Open.
Sujeet scares Paris Olympics silver winner Rahman before losing in quarterfinal
One of the most promising pugilists in the country, Sumit seized control from the opening bell as he immediately claimed the centre of the ring and forced Al Hussein on the defensive.
Norway secured a commanding 5-0 win at home to Israel in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday, as Erling Haaland struck a hat-trick to celebrate his 50th international goal and helped move his side to the brink of a place at next year's tournament.
A summary of Saturday's action in the FIFA World Cup 2026 UEFA Qualifiers.
Unseeded in the draw, Nikhat overcame a scrappy women's 51kg round of 16 contest to secure a unanimous decision, though the scoreline did not reflect the stiff resistance from her 21-year-old opponent.
The result was only their second two-goal defeat in a qualifier, the last being the infamous 5-1 home thrashing by England in 2001.
Jaismine reaches World Championships quarters, Sanamacha and Sakshi exit
Mixing strong defence with measured attack, young wrestler Antim Panghal won her second World Championship medal with a dominating 9-1 victory over U-23 World Champion Emma Jonna Denise Malmgren in the bronze play-off in Zagreb on Thursday, ensuring that the Indian contingent won't return empty-handed from the Croatian capital.
The 23-year-old has dropped 17 games in his three matches at an average of less than two per set, in an ominous warning to his rivals for the title.
Rhythmic gymnastics sees athletes perform exquisite contortions and manoeuvres to music while using hoops, balls, clubs or ribbons.
Indian shuttlers handed tough draws, Lakshya Sen to face world No 1 Shi Yu Qi in opener
Bulgaria's Ruzhdi claimed his sixth successive gold medal in the men's shot put F55 competition with a world record throw in the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi on Sunday.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and H S Prannoy advanced to the second round of women's and men's singles competitions respectively with straight-game wins at the BWF World Championships in Paris on Tuesday.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Saturday issued a new graphic showing Kashmir as Indian territory, rectifying their previous mistake.
The former World Champion reaches the pre-quarterfinals for the first time since 2021.
Bulgarian police have detained four people in connection with the racist abuse faced by England's black players during a Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia with more arrests likely, the country's interior ministry said on Wednesday.
Special Ops 2 captures the spirit of the modern-day spy thriller and runs with it, observes Deepa Gahlot.
The former World champion takes the East European nation by storm.
'Geopolitically and diplomatically it's a very difficult situation for India.'
'We both played high level but I stayed so calm and I really enjoyed the battle.'
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa bounced back from a poor start in the rapid section to climb to second place in the overall standings at the end of the first half of the blitz section in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament.
Aravindh Chithambaram had a good second day as he beat former World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and drew the last two games to find himself on the sole third spot in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz chess tournament.
Bulgaria, one of the countries that hope to join European Union in next four years, is seeking Indian investments, the ambassador and minister-counsellor of Bulgarian Republic, Borislav Kostov, said in New Delhi on Monday.
England bounced back from their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years with a 6-0 thrashing of toothless Bulgaria on Monday in a Euro 2020 Group A clash marred by racist incidents in the first half that stopped the game.
Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 16th time but it proved a hard day's work at his Centre Court office.
Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram did not see any change in his fortunes in the blitz section and had to be content with a tie for seventh place in his maiden outing in the GCT.
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-25 (Pune leg) title on the basis of her superior tie-breaks over Zhu Jiner of China after the two players were tied for the top spot on Wednesday.
Marin Cilic had never beaten a Top-5 player on grass in his entire career before Thursday.
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz overcame Croatia's Marin Cilic to reach the round of 16 at the Qatar Open.
Ukraine came from behind to beat visitors Belgium 3-1 in the first leg of their Nations League playoff on Thursday
Litex Lovech's midfield dynamo Georgi Milanov was voted Bulgaria's Footballer of the Year on Thursday, becoming the youngest player to pick up the prestigious prize.
Brazilian-born Marcelinho scored on his Bulgaria debut while Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty for Portugal as the visitors pulled off a shock 1-0 friendly win over the Euro 2016 finalists on Friday.
