Bopanna-Ebden clinch Miami Open title, return to world No. 1 ranking
Miami (US) (PTI): Ace Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna rewrote his own record to continue to be the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion as he and his Australian partner Matt Ebden clinched the men's doubles crown at the Miami Open here.
Continuing their fine run this year, the 44-year-old Bopanna and Ebden fought back from a set down to pull off an exhilarating 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-6 win over Crotia's Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek at the Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday.
With the win, Bopanna surpassed his record created last year when he won the Indian Wells title at the age of 43, and also reclaimed the top spot in the doubles ranking.
"It's amazing. As long as you are doing well in these big events, it's what we play for," Bopanna said after the win.
"I want to do well in the Masters 1000s and the Grand Slams. It's good to keep that record going and keep giving everyone else a run for their money," added Bopanna, who won his maiden doubles Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year.
This was Bopanna's 14th ATP Masters 1000 final. Overall, it was the veteran Indian player's 63rd ATP Tour level final and 26th doubles title.
Bopanna also achieved a rare feat as he became the second Indian after Leander Paes to reach the final of all nine ATP Masters events.
Bopanna and Ebden, the top seeds for the tournament, tapped into their deep reservoir of experience to fetch the final six points of the summit clash. They had three set points on serve at 6-5 in the opening set but their second-seeded opponents warded off all three to force a tiebreaker before taking a 1-0 lead.
"It's tough. These guys, they fight back in tough moments," said Ebden.
"Last time we played them it was similar, it's a bit of a see-saw. They return so well, make so many balls and we missed one or two shots when we were up [at the end of] the first set. They played a great tie-break, and then we just reset."
Bopanna and Ebden then staged a comeback as they broke their opponent early in the second set which helped them level the game.
Like the opening two sets, the tiebreaker was also fought on an even keel with the reigning Australian Open champions emerging victorious.
Following the Australian Open triumph, Bopanna climbed to the world No.1 spot in the ATP rankings, becoming the oldest player to do so. But slipped to the second spot in the doubles rankings after a quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Championships and a round-of-32 exit at the Indian Wells Masters.
But with the win here, the pair will be back to the top spot.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Siddaramaiah urges PM Modi to suspend VB-G RamG Act, flags 'erosion' of employment rights
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suspend the implementation of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RamG) Act, warning that the new law fundamentally weakens the employment guarantee framework and undermines cooperative federalism.
In a detailed letter to Modi on Tuesday, the Chief Minister expressed serious concern over the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), stating that the new legislation risks dismantling a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement that has served as a critical livelihood safety net for rural households.
“I wish to draw your kind attention to the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RamG) Act and the consequent repeal of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,” Siddaramaiah wrote, cautioning that the shift could defeat the very intent of an employment guarantee law.
“At the outset, I submit that the new law risks defeating the very intent of the original employment guarantee, a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement,” the Chief Minister said, while acknowledging that although the new Act increases the promised guarantee from 100 to 125 days, it does not provide assured planning or central funding to back that promise.
ALSO READ: Congress and NCP (SP) to contest separately in Nagpur civic polls
Siddaramaiah pointed out that the VB-G RamG Act caps the union government’s financial responsibility to a ‘normative allocation’ for notified areas of each state, with the Centre contributing only 60 per cent of that allocation in most states.
“As a result, the so-called legal guarantee of 125 days is not absolute,” he said, adding that it is constrained by a centrally determined funding ceiling, leaving many gram panchayats without funds despite genuine demand.
The Chief Minister also objected to provisions that allow the Centre to determine state-wise normative allocations annually based on objective parameters that are neither embedded in the legislation nor fixed through consultation.
He warned that such parameters could be altered unilaterally and would fail to reflect diverse local needs across and within states.
“In effect, a demand-driven regime is being converted into a supply-driven, top-down system,” Siddaramaiah wrote, pointing out that the new framework runs contrary to the participatory approach under MGNREGA, where labour budgets originate at the gram panchayat level and allocations follow village-level demand rather than central convergence plans.
He stated that this diluted the constitutional vision of decentralisation under the 73rd Amendment.
Raising alarm over the revised funding pattern, Siddaramaiah said under MGNREGA, mainstream states followed a 90:10 Centre-State sharing arrangement, while the new Act shifts this to 60:40.
This, he said, converted a statutory guarantee into “a run-of-the-mill scheme” and imposed a heavy burden on state finances already strained due to GST compensation issues and inequitable financial devolution.
According to him, the provision making states fully liable for expenditure beyond their normative allocation could leave them facing 100 per cent financial responsibility for excess demand.
In such a scenario, he said, the guarantee would depend not on demand but on a state’s fiscal capacity, rendering the entitlement unenforceable.
Siddaramaiah also criticised the requirement to pre-notify a 60-day no-work period during peak sowing and harvesting seasons.
ALSO READ: Congress and NCP (SP) to contest separately in Nagpur civic polls
While acknowledging increased agricultural activity during those months, he said a blanket restriction would hurt vulnerable groups who may not find adequate farm work.
He cautioned that this could reduce employment opportunities, suppress wages and worsen livelihood insecurity, leading to increased distress migration and reduced participation of women.
Summing up the changes, Siddaramaiah wrote that the new framework shifts the intent “from ‘right to work’ to ‘work only if permitted’,” and from year-round rural employment to restricted periods and locations.
He also voiced concern that increased reliance on technology and contractor-led projects could exclude the poorest, particularly Dalit and Adivasi communities.
Terming the implementation "arbitrary and hurried", the CM said the Act violates constitutional provisions requiring consultation with states and weakens the foundations of cooperative federalism.
Siddaramaiah also opposed the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the law, calling it a historic, globally acclaimed rights-based legislation rooted in Gram Swaraj and Antyodaya.
