India upstage Pakistan to win gold in men's team squash
Hangzhou (PTI): Top seeds India upstaged traditional rivals Pakistan in a sensational duel to claim the gold medal in the men's team squash event at the Asian Games here on Saturday.
The hero of the day was Chennai's Abhay Singh, who kept his composure and raised his game to get the better of Noor Zaman 3-2 in a seesaw decider, in which the 25-year-old Indian saved two gold medal points to emerge triumphant and throw his racquet in the air.
This was after the seasoned Saurav Ghosal brought the Indians back into the contest with a 3-0 win over Muhammad Asim Khan after Mahesh Mangaonkar lost the opener to Iqbal Nasir by an identical margin.
India thus avenged their defeat to the same opponent in the league stage of this edition of the continental showpiece.
India last won a men's team squash gold in the 2014 edition of the games in Incheon, while the Pakistanis last claimed gold in 2010 in Guanzhou.
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After arriving from Delhi, Shinde heads to his native village; Mahayuti meet likely on Sun
Mumbai(PTI): Outgoing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who returned to Mumbai from New Delhi on Friday morning, is travelling to his native village in Satara district amid continuing suspense over his successor a week after the assembly poll results.
Shinde had told reporters in New Delhi on late Thursday night that the next meeting of the Mahayuti alliance on government formation will be held in Mumbai on Friday.
However, the caretaker CM, who heads the Shiv Sena, is travelling to his native village Dare in Satara district in western Maharashtra and the meeting is now expected to take place on Sunday, the sources said.
The Shiv Sena leader has repeatedly said he would not be an obstacle in the government formation and abide by the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the next chief minister.
Different viewpoints are emerging in the Shiv Sena over Shinde's place in the next government to be headed by the BJP, the biggest constituent in the Mahayuti, which posted a thumping win in the just-held assembly polls.
Many leaders in the Shiv Sena are asking Shinde to accept deputy CM's post if offered by the BJP. However, another section feels it wouldn't be right for him to accept No. 2 position after serving as CM for more than two-and-a-half years, the sources said.
"The government formation process will start after the BJP announces its legislature party leader," they said.
During his Delhi trip, Shinde had met Shah and discussed formation of the next government in the state. His deputies in the outgoing state cabinet Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) had also met the senior BJP leader.
Talking to reporters in the national capital, Shinde called the discussion “good and positive”.
Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar had also met BJP president J P Nadda.
