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Sindhu beats world champ to become first Indian to win Korea Open

Agencies
September 17, 2017

Seoul, Sept 17: India's star shuttler PV Sindhu overcame reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 22-20, 11-21, 21-18 in the women's singles final of the Korea Open Superseries on Sunday.

Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu won in an hour and 24 minutes at the SK Handball Stadium to clinch her third Superseries title of her career.

Okuhara had conquered the Hyderabad-born shutter in the World Championships final in August in Glasgow.

After the 27 August win, the Rio Olympic bronze medallist Okuhara, 22, had taken a 4-3 lead in career meetings against 22-year-old Sindhu. But in this South Korean capital, Sindhu was presented a chance to avenge the Glasgow loss — and the Indian came out on top.

Sindhu started the match brightly, holding a 5-2 lead early in the first game. Okuhara fought back and equalised at the seven-point mark, firing some delectable drop shots. Sindhu, however, held a two-point lead at the mid-game break.

Later, Okuhara grabbed four consecutive points to take a 13-12 lead. But Sindhu ended the momentum with a crisp winner. She then matched Okuhara shot for shot and didn't allow the Japanese to dictate the pace of the game. Even though Okuhara tried to play long rallies, Sindhu was smart enough to not give her much space to go for aggressive strokes.

Sindhu held a 19-17 lead, which later became 20-18. Okuhara managed to save two game points as she equalised at 20-all. Sindhu then stamped her authority with two shots which Okuhara failed to defend as the Indian clinched the first game 22-20. In the second game, Okuhara stepped up her game and went for the attack straight away. She opened up a handsome five-point lead at 11-6.

In the decider, Sindhu started on a strong note, holding an 8-4 lead early. She mixed aggressive smashes with cunning net-game which rattled the Japanese, who was forced to chase throughout the match.

A six-point advantage for Sindhu at the mid-game break meant Okuhara was left with a mountain to climb. Okuhara tried her best but Sindhu continued to pick points to keep the Japanese shuttler at bay.

An 18-14 lead seemed to be healthy for Sindhu but a feisty Okuhara didn't allow the Indian to roll to the title. Okuhara then managed to save two match points. But eventually, Sindhu remained calm and composed to seal a 21-18 win to bag the title.

Twitter went ga-ga over the 22-year-old's classic win in a thrilling women's singles final. Amitabh Bachchan termed Sindhu's win as a 'sweet revenge', while Virender Sehwag called the World No 4 a 'legend at 22'. Here's how Twitterati reacted to Sindhu's maiden title in Korea.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Mumbai, Jan 19: After Kerala and Punjab, the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government is also mulling over a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in Maharashtra Assembly.

Speaking to news agency, Congress spokesperson Raju Waghmare said: "Our senior party leader Balasaheb Thorat has also shared his stand on the CAA. Even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that we are against the CAA. As far as the resolution against CAA is concerned, our senior leaders of MVA will sit together and decide."

If this happens, then Maharashtra will be the third state to pass a resolution against CAA, which grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Emphasising that CAA is 'unconstitutional,' senior lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal has said that every state Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek CAA's withdrawal.

He added that it would be problematic to oppose the CAA if the law is declared to be 'constitutional' by the Supreme Court.

"I believe the CAA is unconstitutional. Every State Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek its withdrawal. When and if the law is declared to be constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it. The fight must go on!" Sibal tweeted.

Earlier speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival on Saturday, the Congress leader had said that constitutionally no state can say that it will not implement the amended Citizenship Act, as doing so will be "unconstitutional".

Kerala government has also approached the Supreme Court against the CAA following the passage of a resolution against it in the state Assembly.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has also announced that the Congress state government is going to join Kerala in the Supreme Court in the case.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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News Network
January 3,2020

Dhaka, Jan 3: Bangladesh's paramilitary force chief said on Thursday that a total of 445 Bangladeshi nationals returned from India in last two months following the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the Indian government.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Maj Gen Md Shafeenul Islam disclosed the figure during a press briefing here.

"About 1,000 people were arrested in 2019 for illegal border crossings from India to Bangladesh, with 445 of them returning home in November and December," he said.

After verifying their identities through local representatives, BGB came to know that all the intruders are Bangladeshis, Islam said, adding that 253 cases were lodged against them for illegal trespass, while initial investigations found that at least three of them were human traffickers.

The BGB Director said the trespassing did not create any tension between the border forces of Bangladesh and India.

Last week, Islam visited India where he said that the creation of the NRC is completely an "internal affair" of India and the cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries is very good.

He said the BGB will continue to do its work of preventing illegal border crossings as per its mandate.

A BGB delegation, led by Islam, was on a bilateral visit to India to hold DG-level border talks with its counterparts, the Border Security Force (BSF).

The talks took place from December 26-29, during which a host of issues related to cross-border smuggling and activities of criminals and others along the 4,096-km-long front were discussed.

Responding to a question, Islam said, "No discussion was held at the conference over the (NRC) issue".

He said during the five-day talks held in New Delhi, the BGB demanded that the BSF should take effective steps to prevent killings of Bangladeshis on frontiers as casualty figures sharply rose in 2019.

"The number of border killings in 2019 was highest in the last four years. As per our calculation, the number of such unexpected deaths was 35," the BGB chief said.

However, the BSF estimate of the casualty figure is much lower than our calculation, he said.

Islam said the BSF is following the policy of maintaining maximum restraint and minimal use of force even after being attacked by "armed border offenders".

A statement issued by the BSF last month in New Delhi after the conclusion of the DG-level talks said, "On the concern of the BGB regarding the death of Bangladeshi nationals on borders, it was informed to them that a non-lethal weapon policy is strictly followed by BSF personnel on borders.

"Firing is resorted to only in self-defence, when BSF patrols are gheraoed and attacked by ‘dah’ (a sharp-edged weapon) etc. It was specified that the BSF does not discriminate between criminals based on nationality," it said.

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