Saina, Srikanth storm into semifinals of Denmark Open
Odense (Denmark), Oct 20: India's Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth stormed into the semifinals of the Denmark Open with hard-fought victories over Nozomi Okuhara and Sameer Verma respectively.
Saina, ranked 10th, recovered after the losing the first game to beat familiar foe and world number seven Okuhara of Japan 17-21, 21-16, 21-12 in the quarterfinal lasting 58 minutes on Friday night.
The final point of the match was a long rally which ended with the Japanese finding the net. It was a morale boosting for the Indian star, having lost her previous three meetings to Okuhara including the most recent one in Korea last month.
Saina had also lost to the 2017 World Champion during the team event at the Asian Games in August.
Overall, their head-to-head record stands at 7-4 in the Indian's favour. Saina next faces world number 19 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.
Fellow Indian Srikanth too had to dig deep against countryman Verma with little separating the two in an intense men's singles quarterfinal.
In the end, world number six Srikanth prevailed over the 23-ranked Indian in an epic battle lasting an hour and 18 minutes with the final scoreline reading 22-20, 19-21, 23-21.
The two Indians had not played each prior the quarterfinal and their first meeting turned out to be a slugfest. Verma was leading for the major part of the third and deciding game where he even had a 17-13 lead before Srikanth scripted a remarkable fightback to scrape through.
Srikanth plays second seed and world number one Kento Momota of Japan in the semifinal to be held later on Saturday. The formidable Japanese enjoys an 8-3 career record over Srikanth and has not lost to the Indian in their last five meetings.
In the women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy's spirited campaign came to an end with a loss to top seeds, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, in the quarterfinals.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
