Iran ended seven-time champions India's unchallenged kabaddi domination in the Asian Games since the sport was first introduced in 1990.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Indian challenge ended at the $275,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament after top seed Saina Nehwal suffered a straight game defeat to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-finals in Paris.
In other India-related news, Manish Kaurav (KL3 men 200m) and Manjeet Singh (VL2 men 200m) made it to the finals of their respective events for the first time in the history of the tournament.
The celebration of this historic feat was not yet over when Indian shuttlers scripted yet another jaw-dropping show in Birmingham, returning with six medals, including three golds, a silver and two bronze medals in August.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram emerged as the lone survivor at the Korea Open after he defeated Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent to reach the quarterfinals of the men's singles event even as P V Sindhu bowed out of the Super Series tournament, in Seoul, on Thursday.
World champion PV Sindhu made an early exit from the China Open but B Sai Praneeth kept the Indian flag fluttering with a hard-fought straight-game win to reach the men's singles quarter-finals.
PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Championships
Sindhu, Sen look to regain lost touch in Canada Open
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Sindhu suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei
P V Sindhu and K Srikanth have been given the top billing in the respective women's and men's singles badminton competitions of the Commonwealth Games
Olympic bronze medal winning shuttler Saina Nehwal has been handed a relatively easy draw in the women's singles section at the upcoming World Badminton Championships, scheduled to be held in Guangzhou from August 5 to 11.
Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals with an easy straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Indian paddlers continued their impressive run as they outshone Malaysia to cruise into the semifinals of both men's and women' team events on day three of competitions in the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
The World No 11 Srikanth will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round.
Placed at number 10 in the Race to Guanzhou rankings, Srikanth needed to win the tournament to have any hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
Top shuttler B Sai Praneeth and doubles player Dhruv Rawat have already pulled out after testing positive in the pre-departure testing.
Almost a month after dispatching the Indonesian en route his historic world championships bronze at Basel, Praneeth went down to the same opponent
Archer Atanu Das and boxer Vikas Krishan entered the pre-quarterfinals, while the men's hockey team stood up to the challenge posed by Argentina to virtually sew up a last-eight spot on a reasonably successful day for Indian athletes in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Teenage shuttler Lakshya Sen reaffirmed his status as one of India's rising talent as he gave legendary Lin Dan a scare before losing in three games at the Auckland Open Badminton Championship, in Auckland, on Thursday.
Indian archers bowed out of the team events after failing to get past the mighty Koreans for a second time in the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
Deepak usually stuns his rivals with his speed and agility but Dauletbekov was up for the task and smartly foiled the Indian's leg attacks by maintaining distance.
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men's singles quarter-finals that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
H S Prannoy stunned two-time defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in a thrilling 68-minute quarter-final to ensure a medal for India.
The experienced Ghosal, seeded second in the tournament and ranked 30th in the world, needed just 43 minutes to thrash the 10th-seeded Malhotra. Ghosal kept his rival on the run with an array of shots and dominated the proceedings.
Now all eyes are on the two Super 1000 events -- Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) as the world's best return to action following a prolonged break.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the 10th day of the Asian Games tomorrow.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Indian badminton team created history on Sunday as they lifted the Thomas Cup trophy for the very first time.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up the biggest triumph of his career by clinching $50,000 Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Almere.
Two-time silver medallist P V Sindhu produced yet another commanding performance as she demolished Beiwen Zhang of United States in straight games to advance to the quarter-finals of the BWF Badminton World Championships.
