Lakshya's win over Cordon 'deleted' after his opponent's withdrawal; Satwik-Chirag's match cancelled
Paris (PTI): Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen's victory over Kevin Cordon in the opening men's singles Group L match won't be counted as his Guatemalan opponent pulled out of the Paris Olympics due to a left elbow injury.
"Guatemalan men's singles player Kevin Cordon has withdrawn from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Badminton Competition due to a left elbow injury," Badminton World Federation (BWF) said in an update.
"His remaining Group L matches against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie (Court 2, 2pm local time, 29 July 2024) and Julien Carraggi of Belgium (Court 3, 'Not Before' 9.20am local time, 31 July 2024) will not be played. Matches on these courts in each respective session have been rescheduled.
"As per BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the results of all matches played, or yet to be played, involving Cordon in Group L are now considered deleted," the sport's global governing body added.
The withdrawal of Cordon, a Tokyo Olympics semifinalist, means Group L will now be considered a three-player affair, involving Christie and Carraggi of Belgium besides Sen.
The 22-year-old Indian will be the only player in the group to have played three matches as the other two will need to compete in two matches to make it to the knockout stage.
Sen will face Carraggi on Monday and take on Christie in his final group match on Wednesday.
Satwik-Chirag's clash against Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel cancelled
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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's men's doubles Group C clash on Monday has been cancelled following the withdrawal of German player Mark Lamsfuss due to injury.
The Indian pair was scheduled to meet the German duo of Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel on Monday.
"German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury,” the BWF informed.
“Lamsfuss’ and teammate Marvin Seidel‘s remaining Group C matches against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Court 3, 8.30am local time, 29 July 2024) and Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar of France (Court 1, ‘Not Before’ 2.50pm local time, 30 July 2024) will not be played,” it added.
Satwik and Chairag had opened their campaign with a 21-17 21-14 win over the French combination of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar on Saturday.
They will take on Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in their final game on Tuesday.
Due to the withdrawal of the German pair, the Indonesians' win over Lamsfuss and Sseidel on Saturday has been deleted.
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791 drone intrusions along IB reported in 2025: Defence Ministry
New Delhi (PTI): A total of 791 drone intrusions -- nine incidents along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir and 782 along IB in Punjab and Rajasthan -- were reported during 2025, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
"Effective employment of own spoofers and jammers along the western front significantly countered the drone threat," it said.
During this period, 237 drones were brought down by the Indian forces along IB sector -- "five drones with war-like stores, 72 drones with narcotics and 161 drones without any payload", the ministry said in a year-end review statement.
"A total of 791 drone intrusions (nine incidents along IB in J&K and 782 along IB in Punjab/Rajasthan) were reported during this year," it said.
The ministry said the security situation in J&K remains "firmly under control" due to the relentless efforts of the Indian Army.
People have chosen to follow the path of development and has been actively participating in large numbers in all government and Army-run initiatives, it said.
The 'whole-of-nation' approach has resulted in "reduction in violence levels, scaled down protests and zero incidents of stone pelting".
The statement also underlined Operation Sindoor carried out on May 7 eliminating at least 100 terrorists in response to the horrific Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 innocent civilians.
Indian armed forces had launched a series of precision missile strikes on nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir under this military action, which resulted in a four-day conflict between India and Pakistan.
The hostilities ended with an understanding on halting the military actions on May 10 following talks over the hotline between army officials of the two sides.
"After the DGMO talks on May 10 and May 12, the situation remains stable though unpredictable. However, there has been an increase in Pakistan attempts to surreptitiously infiltrate terrorists through the LoC (Line of Control) and IB sector," the ministry said in its review.
"Pakistan attempted to activate Poonch-Rajouri region as a "hotbed for proxy war during the year 2023-24," it said.
Therefore, the deliverables for 2025 were clearly defined in terms of maintaining robust anti-infiltration grid, relentless conduct of operations in mid and higher reaches to dislocate or neutralise terrorists and reduce local recruitment of cadres by creating a conducive environment for development, the statement said.
"Security situation in hinterland continues to witness consistent improvement since 2019," it added.
Functionality of training camps, presence of terrorists in launch pads and continuing infiltration attempts substantiate Pakistan's "persistent intent to prosecute a proxy war strategy", the ministry said.
"Significant efforts are being made by Pakistan to exploit the IB sector not only to smuggle weapons and narcotics using drones, but also to infiltrate large strength of terrorists," it said.
The ministry further said in consideration of "ongoing operational concerns", sanction for emergency procurement in the niche technology domains of drone and counter-drone, weapon systems, precision ammunition, electronic warfare systems, surveillance systems, etc., was accorded.
"A total of 29 capability development schemes have already been contracted and another 16 schemes are likely to be contracted in December 2025," it said in its review.
On manufacturing of drones and achieving 'Aatmanirbharta' in ammunition production, the ministry said that "515 Army Base Workshop and select Corps Z Workshops/EME Battalions have established credible drone manufacturing capability using in-house expertise and collaboration with subject matter experts".
"The facilities are state-of-the-art, which meet the quality requirements of drones. A total of 819 drones (surveillance -193, kamikaze/armed/weaponised -337, first pilot view -289) have been manufactured till date by EME units".
