Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag enter Hong Kong final
Hong Kong (PTI): India's Lakshya Sen entered his first major final in two years after edging out Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in straight games, while the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the summit clash here on Saturday.
The 23-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, ended a long wait for a title shot with a fighting 23-21, 22-20 win over world No. 9 and third seed Chou in a gruelling 56-minute semifinal.
The Commonwealth Games champion had last won a Super 500 tournament at the Canada Open in July 2023. He also clinched a Super 300 title at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in December last year.
Currently ranked world No. 20, Lakshya will face second seed Li Shi Feng of China in the final.
Earlier, the world No. 9 duo of Satwik and Chirag defeated Chinese Taipei's Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng-Kuan 21-17, 21-15 to make their first final of the season after six semifinal heartbreaks. The eighth-seeded Indians will take on China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, silver medallists at the Paris Olympics.
"Finals, finally. It's been seven semifinals since China Open last year. We've been constantly playing semifinals and I think we really wanted to play a final. It's been a while," Chirag said.
"The last final we played was the Thailand Open, probably in May, before the Olympics. We really wanted to do well here and I think we're really happy. Still one more match to go.
"World Championships was good, although we would have loved to play the final, but I think the pairs that we beat with the confidence that we had coming into the World Championships, it was quite good. But having said that, yeah, really happy that we are playing a final here, finally broke that semifinal jinx."
Lakshya read his opponent's attack well during the close-to-an-hour contest to stay ahead for most of the match. He was up 3-0 in the first game, but the 35-year-old Chou kept snapping at his heels before the Indian secured a four-point cushion at the break.
Chou clawed back to 12-12 with four straight points. The duo exchanged parallel shots, with Lakshya showing solid defence, including a forehand return into the gap, but a service fault gave Chou 15-14 lead.
The Taiwanese erred at the net, but replied with a cross-court smash. He then went long twice as Lakshya moved to 18-15. Chou thought there was a double hit during a net dribble, but the umpire ruled against him. Lakshya went long, allowing Chou to cut it to 17-18, and then levelled at 18-18 after another error from the Indian.
At 19-19, the two engaged in a 51-shot rally that ended with Chou finding the net. He hit back to make it 20-20 with a brilliant defensive retrieval. Lakshya earned a second game point when Chou netted a backhand, but squandered it with another long shot. A long serve from Chou finally gave Lakshya his third game point, which he converted with a net cord.
After a 3-3 start in the second, Lakshya slipped to 4-7 with a few errors. Chou stretched his lead to 13-10 with smashes and then to 15-12 with a series of powerful jump hits. Lakshya responded with a delicate drop but Chou regained control at 17-14.
The Indian saved two game points with an easy kill and a clean winner on the line to make it 19-20. He then produced a smash and an outstanding defensive shot to grab match point, sealing the contest again with a fortunate net cord.
The opening game saw the two pairs locked at 3-3 and 6-6 before Satwik's smashes and Chirag’s sharp interceptions helped the Indians inch ahead 11-8.
Though the Taiwanese clawed back to 12-12, the Indians surged to 15-12 and closed the game on their second game point with Chirag's angled, high-paced return.
Chen and Lin started stronger in the second, leading 4-2, but India restored parity at 6-6 after a service misjudgment from their opponents.
A couple of errors from Chirag gave the Taiwanese a 10-8 cushion, only for Satwik to unleash another booming smash to level things at 12-all.
From there, the Indians tightened their grip, moving to 17-15 as Satwik punished a weak return.
Soon it became 19-15 in India's favour before a net error by Chen handed Satwik and Chirag five match points.
The Indians converted immediately after the Taiwanese went long.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
