P V Sindhu enters All England semifinals
Birmingham: Reigning world champion P V Sindhu returned to form with a thrilling win over Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in an intriguing women's singles quarterfinals of the prestigious All England Championships here.
Sindhu, seeded fifth, staged a remarkable comeback after losing the opening game to notch up a 16-21 21-16 21-19 win over Yamaguchi in a pulsating contest that lasted an hour and 16 minutes to make only her second semifinals appearance at All England.
The Indian had come into the match with a 10-7 head-to-head count against the Japanese even though she had lost the last three meetings.
This was Sindhu's first win in last four meetings with Yamaguchi.
"I am playing against her after quite a long time, I think 2019. We haven't played at all. I'm sure she would have trained very hard. Today's match was a good, tough long match I would say," Sindhu said.
"In the first game I was making a lot of errors and hitting them out because I was on the side with the stronger drift. The second game, it was in my favour. A lot of long rallies. It was important to get that second game.
"In the third game, it was very crucial. My coach was very supportive, he was making sure I controlled the shuttle well. Each point was very important. Overall, it was anybody's game but I am happy to be on the winning side."
The Olympic silver medallist will face Thailand's sixth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong for a place in the final. The Indian has an overwhelming 4-1 lead against the world No. 11 Thai.
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The Kerala Story 2: Slow ticket sales on first day of film's release
Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi/Kozhikode (PTI): A day after the Kerala High Court paved the way for the release of the 'The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond' film, ticket sales of the movie are slow, but are expected to pick up in the coming days, theatre owners said.
In some theatres in the state capital, according to figures on the online movie ticket booking app, BookMyShow, ticket sales are very low.
In the PVR theatre at the Lulu Mall in Thiruvananthapuram, there were only 68 bookings till 10 am for the four shows scheduled for the day, according to BookMyShow figures.
In Kochi, Suresh, the owner of the popular Shenoy theatre, said there were around 50 per cent bookings for the four shows scheduled during the day.
"The bookings are more for the evening and night shows," he told PTI.
He said that the number of shows to be screened in the coming days will be decided based on the first day's ticket sales.
At the same time, Suresh also said that it was a slow start when the first movie -- 'The Kerala Story' -- was released in 2023.
"The bookings had slowly picked up, and there was a good collection," he said.
At Kozhikode city's Crown Theatre, a similar trend was seen last time in 2023, its owner Vinod Iyer said.
This time, the bookings are "very poor" for the four shows scheduled in his theatre for the day, Iyer told PTI.
He said that the reasons for it might be that the bookings were opened late on Friday, and people might be waiting for the reviews before making a decision.
Even in various other theatres in the city, bookings are very low, and some have cancelled shows as a result, he said.
"Hopefully, things will improve in the coming days as they did the first time," Iyer said.
A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday had paved the way for the release of 'The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond' film by staying the single judge order, which had put on hold the movie's screening for 15 days.
The bench had said that the single judge's finding that guidelines for certification have not been borne in mind by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) were "merely on the basis of a few clippings and without viewing the movie" and therefore, it "cannot be countenanced".
It had further said that once a certificate has been issued, there is, prima facie, a presumption that the authority concerned has taken into account all the guidelines, including public order.
"In the light of the afore discussions, we are of the view that the impugned order dated February 26, 2026 interdicting the release of the movie is only to be stayed and we do so. Ordered accordingly," the bench had said on an appeal moved by the film's producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah against the single judge's order.
The single judge, on Thursday, held that prima facie there was a manifest non-application of mind to the requirement of law by the censor board, CBFC.
The judge also said that "the possibility of communal disharmony or denigration of a community also being prima facie involved in the movie", and its release without scrutiny by the higher authorities would be legally improper.
The court had further said that the content of the film's teaser has "a prima facie potential to distort public perception and disturb communal harmony".
