Palembang, Aug 20 : India were assured of its first-ever medal in Sepaktakraw as they entered the semi-finals of the mens team Regu event after finishing second in Group B here on Monday.

There are only six teams in the competition, which means India is assured of a medal as the losing semi-finalists will get bronze.

In the preliminary round, India got the better of Iran 2-1, later losing to Indonesia 3-0.

They qualified for the last four stage as the second best team in their group.



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Mangaluru: Flight operations between Mangaluru and several Gulf destinations continue to remain affected, with multiple services cancelled on March 4 and 5, according to a statement issued by the airport spokesperson.

The cancelled flights on March 4 include

Mangaluru–Jeddah (IX 845)
Jeddah–Mangaluru (IX 846)
Mangaluru–Dubai (IX 831)
Mangaluru–Dubai (IX 813)
Mangaluru–Kuwait (IX 851)
Mangaluru–Dammam (IX 847)
Mangaluru–Abu Dhabi (IX 815).

Flights cancelled on March 5 include

Dubai–Mangaluru (IX 832)
Dubai–Mangaluru (IX 814)
Dammam–Mangaluru (IX 848)
Abu Dhabi–Mangaluru (IX 816).

Meanwhile, airline operations to Mumbai, Delhi and a few other cities from the Gulf are beginning in a limited manner.

Air India announced that it is deploying widebody aircraft with higher passenger capacity on its services to Jeddah and Dubai on March 3 and 4 to facilitate the return of passengers impacted by the ongoing situation in the Middle East.

A Boeing 777 aircraft with a seating capacity of close to 350 passengers departed Mumbai for Jeddah on the evening of March 3, the airline said in a statement.

This will be followed by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft with around 300 seats scheduled to depart Delhi for Dubai later in the night, and another Boeing 787-8 aircraft with over 250 seats operating from Mumbai to Dubai in the early hours of March 4.

Air India Express said it will resume flight operations to and from Muscat from March 3, 2026.

However, flights to and from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will remain suspended until 23:59 hrs IST (18:29 hrs UTC) on March 3.

SpiceJet is operating special flights from Fujairah to Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi to support Indian nationals travelling back home.