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"Guatemalan men's singles player Kevin Cordon has withdrawn from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Badminton Competition due to a left elbow injury," Badminton World Federation (BWF) said in an update.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"German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury,” the BWF informed.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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86 nations, two int'l organisations sign AI Impact Summit declaration: IT Min Vaishnaw
New Delhi (PTI): As many as 86 countries and two international organisations have signed the AI Impact Summit declaration, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said, adding that the US, UK, Canada, China, Denmark, and Germany are among the signatories.
The strong global backing for the declaration comes at the conclusion of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
Vaishnaw told reporters that nations across the world have formalised and upheld principles of 'welfare of all, and happiness of all'.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's human-centric AI vision been accepted by the world. Democratising Artificial Intelligence resources so AI facilities, services and technology can reach everyone in society has been accepted by all," the minister said.
Balancing economic growth with social good has been prioritised, he added.
"Not just economic growth, even social harmony has to be kept in mind. Safety and trust are at the centre, they have been brought among the main points," Vaishnaw said, adding that a secure, trustworthy and robust AI framework has been focused on.
Other major areas of thrust include innovations and development of human capital, he noted.
"For all these areas, all countries have agreed to work together. Almost all countries that participated, including the US, the UK, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, and Germany... everyone has participated," the minister said.
The mega AI Impact Summit secured investment commitments of over USD 250 billion in infrastructure alone, with Vaishnaw on Friday terming it a "grand success".
Vaishnaw had said participation at the summit crossed five lakh visitors, reflecting strong domestic and global engagement with India's AI push.
The India AI Impact Summit brought together global policymakers, industry leaders and technology experts, positioning India as a key player in shaping international AI governance and infrastructure development.
"More than five lakh visitors participated in the exhibition, learnt a lot, and interacted with many experts from around the world. We had practically every major AI player in the world participating in large numbers. We had so many startups getting the opportunity to showcase their work. Overall, the quality of the discussion was phenomenal," he had said.
Be it the ministerial dialogue, the leaders' plenary, the main inauguration function, or the Summit overall, the quality of participation and dialogue was phenomenal, Vaishnaw had pointed out.
The investment pledges have crossed USD 250 billion for infra-related capital and around USD 20 billion on VC/deep tech investments.
Vaishnaw had said that the Summit reflected the world's confidence in India's role in the new AI age.
Delhi played host to a lineup of global tech heavyweights this week - Google's Sundar Pichai, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Microsoft's Brad Smith and Anthropic's Dario Amodei - as discussions spanned most intensely debated global topics in the tech universe, from AI's opportunities and risks, all the way to AGI, governance and the future of jobs.
