Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the quarter-finals of the French Open after suffering straight-game defeats in their respective matches as India's campaign ended in the singles events.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi quelled a late challenge from Tsung-Hua Yang and Chu-Huan Yi to carve out a hard fought 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 win in the doubles rubber of the second round Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei to hand India a 2-1 advantage in Kaohsiung on Saturday.
An Indian tennis team sans Sania Mirza completed a dubious hat-trick of defeats in the Fed Cup following a 0-3 loss to Uzbekistan in the Asia/Oceania Group I round-robin match in Perth on Friday. As a result, the Indians will now play Chinese Taipei in the relegation play-off on Saturday. With Friday's defeat, India finished last in the four-team Pool A, having also lost 0-3 in the earlier two matches -- against New Zealand and Indonesia -- as well.
India's shuttlers continued their good run at the Canada Open. Six singles players, including Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy, qualified for the quarter-finals in the US $55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament, in Calgary.
Sania ousted from Qatar Total Open.
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.
Sindhu suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei
The Indian Davis Cup team, whitewashed by formidable Spain in the World Group Play-off tie, were seeded second behind Kazakhstan in the Asia/Oceania Group 1.
Chinese golfers told to pull out of Taiwan event
India's top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu secured an Olympic quota for the country after she led from start to finish and claimed the gold medal in women's 10-m air pistol on Day 1 of competition at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers for Shooting, in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
India's Vijender Singh stunned the boxing fraternity by comprehensively defeating Olympic gold medallist Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals of the AIBA President's Cup boxing tournament in Taipei on Tuesday. Vijender won the bout on points 12:7 in the 75-kg category to enter the semi-finals of the tournament.
Climate change is real, and we need, need, need to do something about it. That's why, on March 15, tens of thousands of students worldwide have decide to skip class to demand that elected officials act on this awful crisis. The move is inspired by 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg from Sweden, who since last August has been striking outside the Swedish parliament building. She has been boycotting classes every Friday, demanding that her government step up the fight against climate change. Her message is simple: "Strike for climate". Take a look at the marches across the world.
The 1,666 foot tall building has received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification from the US Green Building Council.
Veteran Mahesh Bhupathi went out of the mixed doubles competition following a first-round loss.
The AITA has appointed former Davis Cupper Anand Amritraj as the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team, which will take on Chinese Taipei in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie next year.
Somdev Devvarman recorded his first Davis Cup win to keep India afloat in the second round tie against Chinese Taipei as both the teams were locked 1-1 on the opening day of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I tie in Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei) on Friday.
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.
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.
Four-time silver medallist Deepika Kumari was beaten by Tan Ya-ting in straight sets to make an embarrassing first round exit from the Archery World Cup Final in Rome on Sunday.
A day after her World record-equalling feat, Deepika Kumari made a shock quarter-final exit from the individual events of the Archery World Cup, first stage at the Yuanshen Stadium, in Shanghai, on Thursday.
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.
China chose a sports contest to announce the change of the name of Taiwan, a self-governed cash-rich island.
Kidambi Srikanth continued his fine form to enter the men's singles semi-finals but Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu bowed out of the Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney, on Friday.
Nehwal has had a troubled run in this year as she has now faced exits from a tournament in the first round five times.
Argentina stay on top of the list, ahead of Brazil and Italy. The only change in the top 10 is England, which gained two places to number nine at the expense of Portugal, which slipped to 11.
Mumbai and New Delhi may feature in the top 10 in the next 10 to 20 years.
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.
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.
A rematch of the All England final between India's Saina Nehwal and world champion Carolina Marin is on the cards with the two stars given first and second seeding in the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries to be played from March 24.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
India's women recurve team kept itself in medal contention by moving to the semifinals of the Asian Games even as the men's recurve team suffered a close 3-5 defeat against Hong Kong to crash out in the elimination round of the archery competition.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The top seeds lost to Chris Haggard and Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round of the China 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.
Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza and Zimbabwean Cara Black started their Sony Open campaign on a positive note. Check out Friday's sports action.