The COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected over 30 lakh people worldwide, has halted all sports, including badminton, across the globe with even the Tokyo Olympics being pushed to next year. Tennis star Novak Djokovic had recently said he is opposed to a compulsory coronavirus vaccination.
Yuki Bhambri returned to India's Davis Cup squad for the World Group play-off tie against world No 2 Serbia, as the selectors named a six-member squad on expected lines. Somdev Devvarman, the country's No 1 singles player, will lead the squad.
Oman made a late comeback to defeat India 2-1 in the opening Group E match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup Joint-Qualifiers at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, on Thursday.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza began the 2015 season and her partnership with Su-Wei Hsieh with a hard fought 7-5, 6-3 win over Jarmila Gajdosova and Ajla Tomljanovic, in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Sania Mirza and Cara Black brushed aside the challenge of Jelena Jankovic and Alisa Kleybanova to reach the women's doubles quarter-finals but Rohan Bopanna's campaign ended at the French Open following his defeat in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu remained in the hunt for a historic Asian Games gold medal after a tense win but Saina Nehwal settled for a bronze following her 10th straight defeat against World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying.
Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza and Zimbabwean Cara Black started their Sony Open campaign on a positive note. Check out Friday's sports action.
The unseeded Indian beat the 11th seed 21-11, 13-21, 21-7 in a second round match that lasted an hour and two minutes.
The Indo-Taipei pair beat Sandra Kloesel and Anna Koumantou 2-6, 6-1, 10-7 in the quarters.
Top seed R M V Gurusaidutt entered the men's singles semi-finals, but women's defending champion P C Thulasi and reigning National champion Sayali Gokhale were knocked out of the US $15,000 Tata Open India International Challenge Badminton tournament at the Cricket Club of India, in Mumbai, on Friday.
Fifth seeds Sania Mirza and Cara Black had things their way while beating the Taipei-South African pair Hao-Ching Chan and Chanelle Scheepers to enter the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open on Wednesday. The Indo-Zimbabwean pair won 6-4, 6-1 in little over an hour.
With the two teams locked 2-2 in the overall tie after the first the three matches, it was left to their respective mixed doubles pairs to push them ahead.
Sania Mirza and Cara Black cruised past Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in just 52 minutes to seal a semi-final berth at the WTA Rogers Cup, in Montreal.
The 25-year-old Indian, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from injuries, beat Mithun 21-9, 21-15 in just 31 minutes to set up a title clash with Japan's Koki Watanabe on Sunday.
Pistol aces Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu bagged a bronze each to continue India's medal charge at the 10th Asian Championship 10m Rifle/Pistol in Wako City.
Nehwal has had a troubled run in this year as she has now faced exits from a tournament in the first round five times.
Sania ousted from Qatar Total Open.
Indian boxer Pavitra (60kg) advanced to the quarter-finals of the Asian Games after out-classing Pakistan's Rukhsana Perveen in a bout that did not go beyond the opening round, in Jakarta, on Saturday.
Three Indians will feature in the semi-finals of the French Open Super Series badminton tournament after Kidambi Srikanth, H S Prannoy and P V Sindhu won their quarter-final matches in Paris on Friday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
They showed nerve of steel to pull off a thrilling 3-2 upset over Chinese Taipei.
Gaurav Ghei came agonisingly close to his second win in as many starts on the Asian Tour.
Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna, who will represent India at the Rio Olympics as a team, may clash against each other at the Wimbledon pre-quarterfinals as they have been drawn in the top half of the draw at the men's doubles event. Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea, seeded sixth, open their campaign against Croatian pair of Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic.
Mary Kom defeated Chinese Taipei's Meng-Chieh Pin in a split verdict in the quarter-finals to make the last four stage of the light flyweight (48kg) category.
As Mahesh Bhupathi prepares to retire this year, India's new Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj feels the veteran tennis ace should get a farewell tie, though he made clear it is not in his hands to decide on the matter.
Top-seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis entered the semifinals of the WTA Aegon International.
With the world population exceeding 7 billion, people all over the world are jostling for space. Go through these images from across the globe and see how overcrowded it can get.
Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Garbine Muguruza were named as the International Tennis Federation (ITF) world champions on Friday - the first time in 19 years the awards have gone to players from the same country.
Fifth seeded Sindhu, who made early exits from China and Korea last month, has been pitted against Michelle Li, who remains a tricky customer despite the fact that Sindhu has a 5-2 head-to-head record against the world no 9 Canadian.
India's shooter Apurvi Chandela had a gold medal in her grasp before a slip up in the 19th shot pushed her outside the medal bracket at the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol stage.
Kynan Chenai gave himself an advance birthday gift by securing a quota place for the Rio Olympics but London Games silver medallist Vijay Kumar's hopes of earning a berth went up in smoke at the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition for shooting, in New Delhi on Thursday.
Karman struggled to contain her unforced errors but prevailed 6-3 6-4 win over Eudice Chong to give India a 1-0 lead in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the 10th day of the Asian Games tomorrow.
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.
Fourth seeded Srikanth, who had claimed a silver medal at this year's Commonwealth Games, had to dig deep in his reservoir to outwit fellow Indian H S Prannoy 18-21, 30-29, 21-18 in a thrilling match, clocking an hour and seven minutes.
Returning to action after nearly two months, Saina, who made last-minute withdrawals from Indonesia Open and last week's Japan Open because of injuries, got past Chaiwan 21-17, 21-19 in her opening round contest.
The 34-year-old, who is a five-time world champion besides being an Olympic bronze-medallist, beat local favourite Diem Thi Trinh Kieu in a split verdict in the opening round of the light flyweight (48kg) category.
MC Mary Kom inched one step closer towards her sixth gold medal at the Women's World Boxing Championships after beating Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea in the semi-finals of the 48kg.
With tensions between China and Taiwan rapidly increasing, the tone of China's official media has also become progressively more strident, observes former senior RA&W officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
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