Bopanna-Zhang pair loses mixed doubles quarterfinal to make exit from Australian Open
Melbourne(PTI): Rohan Bopanna and Shuai Zhang had a match point in the Super Tie-break but could not close out the mixed doubles quarterfinals in their favour as local wild cards John Peers and Olivia Gadecki emerged winners in an exciting contest at the Australian Open here on Tuesday.
Bopanna and Zhang lost 6-2 4-6 9-11 in one hour and eight minutes at Kia Arena, bringing curtains on India's campaign at the first Grand Slam of the season.
Bopanna had earlier made exit from the men's doubles. India's other contenders, including singles exponent Sumit Nagal, and doubles specialists Yuki Bhambri and N Sriram Balaji, had also lost at various stages of the hard-court Major.
Bopanna and Zhang ran away with the opening set but the Australian wild-card pair bounced back strongly.
The Chinese player lost her serve in the third game of the second set and that gave Peers and Gadecki an opening to force a Super Tie-break.
There was no surprise, and that break remained with the wild cards, who wrapped up the second set.
The windy conditions also occasionally made the returns a bit tough.
Serving to stay in the set, Bopanna came out with his booming serves even as Peers tried to put pressure on him with an aggressive approach from the baseline, targeting Zhang on the net.
Peers gifted a free point with his double fault while serving for the set but came back strong with Gadecki hitting a volley winner on the next point.
Solid serving handed the local favourites two set points. They converted when Zhang's service return sailed over the baseline.
Bopanna lost his serve on the first point of the Super Tie-break with Peers finding a volley winner following a quick duel with Zhang. The Chinese also lost a point on her serve with super-fast returns being fired from across the net.
Bopanna's on-the-jump forehand winner made it 3-3 but Peers found a stunning service return winner on the Indian's serve to earn another mini break.
A Peers return on Zhang's second serve gave the Aussies a 7-5 lead. Gadecki lost both points on her serve and it was 7-all.
At 8-8, Gadecki's feeble return went wide giving Bopanna and Zhang their first match point. Peers saved the chance with a strong serve.
Peers came out with an ace to earn his side a match point and Zhang was now serving to save the match. The Chinese hit a return wide following a rally, giving the local team a memorable win.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
