A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Indian shuttlers had a disappointing day at the Asian Badminton Championships in Johar Baru, Malaysia, on Thursday, most of them bowing out of the competition in various categories.
India posted a comfortable 10-0 win over Bangladesh, while South Korea beat Chinese Taipei 8-2 in the Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament.
The Indian ace and Italy's Mara Santangelo got the better of Neha and Shikha Uberoi 6-3, 6-1 at the Bangalore Open.
On a comeback trail, Saina Nehwal made a resounding start to her campaign at the Hong Kong Super Series, advancing to the second round of women's singles with a hard-fought win over Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.
Immediately after winning the Asian Games doubles gold medal, Mahesh Bhupathi announced the end of his partnership with Leander Paes.
India's Anirban Lahiri is tied sixth at the end of the first round in the men's golf competition at the 15th Asian Games.
Jyoti Randhawa blasted a flawless five-under 65 in the final round to cruise to a comfortable two-stroke victory over Rhys Davies of Wales at the US $500,000 Thailand Open in Phuket on Sunday. The 36-year-old Indian golfer sank as many as five birdies to take his tally to 17-under 263 to pip Davies, who hit three-under 67 at the Laguna Phuket Golf Club.
Leander Paes questioned partner Mahesh Bhupathi's commitment after the duo's loss in the tennis team event at the Asian Games.
India were on Saturday relegated to Group II of the Asia/Oceania zone after their humiliating 0-3 defeat against Chinese Taipei in the Fed Cup play-off tie here.
Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy sailed into the pre-quarter-finals, but it was heartbreak for Parupalli Kashyap in the men's singles at the World Badminton Championships in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Japan won the gold and Iran the bronze atthe Asian Junior Volleyball Championship.
Top seed Chin-Wei Chan of Chinese Taipei beat second seed Montinee Tangphong of Thailand 6-2, 6-3.
Rupesh Roy and his partner, Hsin Han Lee from Chinese Taipei, lost in the semi-finals of the boys' doubles at Wimbledon.
The Indian Davis Cupper was beaten by top seed top seed Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 5-7, 0-6 in the second round.
India have been seeded third in Group I of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania zone. They have been given a bye in the first round before taking on the winner of the match between Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan in the second round, scheduled from March 6 to 8, 2009.
Rain prevented play on the opening day of the Asia-Oceania zonal qualifying round in Seoul.
Chinese Taipei's Yeu Tzuoo Wang and Korea's warhorse Mi-Ra Jeon have been given top billing in the men's and women's singles respectively at the Asian Tennis Championships, beginning on Tuesday.
Reena Kumari and Sumangala Sharma advanced to the second knock-out round, but Dola Banerjee bowed out in the women's individual 70 metres archery event at the Olympic Games.
Till some singles talent is unearthed India will have to look up to captain Leander Paes to deliver the goods, says Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal.
The Indo-Swiss pair beat Yeu-Tzuoo Wang and Na Li 6-2, 6-2 in the first round at Australian Open
Argentina's Angel Cabrera and Ricardo Gonzalez shot a record-breaking 11-under for the alternate shot format and moved into contention at the World Cup of Golf.
Archer Laishram Bombayla Devi advanced to the pre-quarter-finals in the women's individual recurve competition, defeating Chinese Taipei's Lin Shih-Chia, at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.
The Chinese Taipei veteran and the 33-year-old India ace lead the field after the third round in the Crowne Plaza Open, in Beijing.
Chetan Anand, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar advanced to the second round of the All England Open Badminton tournament.
India's women's recurve team shocked top seeds Germany 5-3 to set up a gold medal clash with Chinese Taipei in the first stage of the archery World Cup at the Yuanshen Stadium, in Shanghai, on Friday.
Karan Rastogi booked a semi-final berth at the Australian Open junior tennis championships in Melbourne.
The 2003 80kg class gold medallist joined eight other compatriots in the title round of different weight categories in the Asian Women's Boxing Championships.
The duo completed an Indian sweep winning the boy's and girl's event respectively of the Asian Junior Tennis Championship.
The former national champion easily beat Chih Hao Chen of Chinese Taipei to qualify.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain kickstarted her campaign on an impressive note by notching up a thrilling win at the 12th edition of the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul on Monday.
On a day of upsets in the ATP Challenger, the Indian ace lost to Chinese Taipei qualifier Ti Chen.
India beat Chinese Taipei to take the bronze and clinch a place in the World Youth Cup.
The script remained the same in the second game as well, with Sindhu maintaining her firm grip over the proceedings to race to a 6-0 lead in just two minutes.
Chin-Wei Chan of Chinese Taipei and Montinee Tangphong of Thailand will clash in the US $ 10,000 tournament final.
After losing the first game, the 24-year-old Indian rebounded strongly to clinch a 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 win over Wan Ho in a gruelling second-round clash that lasted almost an hour.
Taiwan had shifted its purchases of large military platforms and systems, like fighter jets and naval vessels, to smaller lethal anti-ship and surface-to-air-missiles, reported The Singapore Post citing local media.
