P V Sindhu clinches Swiss Open title
Basel (PTI): Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu notched up her second women's singles title of the season with a straight game win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the summit clash of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament here on Sunday.
Playing her second successive final in the tournament, Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, took 49 minutes to get the better of the fourth seeded Thai 21-16 21-8 at the St. Jakobshalle here.
It was Sindhu's 16th win over Busanan in 17 meetings, having lost to the Thai only once -- at the 2019 Hong Kong Open.
Sindhu had lost to Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain in the final in the last edition.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad has happy memories of this venue as she had claimed the World Championships gold in 2019. Sindhu had won the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow in January this year.
Super 300 tournaments are the second lowest tier of BWF Tour events.
Sindhu rode on her attack to open up a 3-0 lead but Busanan started to stay in the rallies and she produced some good quality shots to make it 7-7.
Busanan tried to keep Sindhu away from the net, making her move across the court but the Thai was erratic in her finishing, allowing the Indian to go into the break with a narrow two-point lead.
Busanan used her deceptions and drop shots to dictate the rallies but Sindhu relied on her retrieval skills to stay ahead.
A precise return at the backline gave Sindhu four game points and she sealed the first game when Busanan went wide.
Busanan struggled with her length after the change of sides to concede a 0-5 lead early on in the second game. Sindhu looked more aggressive as she troubled the Thai with her acute angle shots to dictate the rallies.
In full flow, the Indian soon cruised to a decisive nine-point advantage at the interval. She kept a firm grip on the match to gallop to 18-4, riding on her alert front court play and precise returns.
Busanan continued to hit wide and long to eventually hand over 16 match points to the Indian, who pocketed the game and the match comfortably.
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Bengaluru woman groped, beaten, dragged on road after rejecting man’s advances
Bengaluru: A 21-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted in broad daylight in Bengaluru after she rejected repeated relationship advances from a man she had met through social media. The incident, which was captured on CCTV, took place on December 22 around 3.20 pm, NDTV reported.
According to police, the accused, identified as Naveen Kumar, had been in contact with the woman after connecting with her on Instagram earlier this year. While they initially remained in touch through calls and messages, the man reportedly began pressuring her to enter into a relationship, which she refused.
On the day of the incident, the footage shows the woman standing beside a scooty, believed to be an online ride, when the accused arrives at the spot in a car. He is seen taking her purse and checking it before moving towards her and groping her.
The man then repeatedly hits the woman on her head and back and drags her along the road. Despite the presence of two to three bystanders at the scene, no one intervened to help the victim.
The victim later approached the police and filed a complaint. Based on her statement, an FIR was registered, and Naveen Kumar was taken into custody. Police said further investigation is underway.
