Sania Mirza-Ankita Raina pair knocked out of Tokyo Games
Tokyo, Jul 25: Sania Mirza and debutant Ankita Raina were knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics despite dominating a large part of their women's doubles opener against Ukrainian twin sisters Nadiia and Liudmyla Kichenok, here on Sunday.
Sania and Raina were running away with the contest after bageling their opponents but in a dramatic turnround, the Kichenok sisters came back from the dead to pull off a 0-6 7-6(0) 10-8 win at court 11 of Ariake Tennis Centre.
Sania was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set but perhaps nerves got the better of her and ended up dropping her serve.
From there on, it was not the same match, in which the Ukrainians looked out of sort, struggling with their serves and returns.
The Indians became the prey and Ukrainians pounced on them.
Sania and Raina were down 1-8 in the Super Tie break but reeled off seven straight points to make it 8-8 but lost the next two points to make an exit from the Games.
The Indians broke the Ukrainians in the second game of the match to open up a lead. What followed was a sequence of holds for the Indians but drops for their rivals. In just 21 minutes, Mirza and Raina had claimed the first set.
The Kichenok sisters finally got on board when Raina's backhand return sailed over the baseline in the second game of the second set.
Raina went up 40-15 in the third game but buried a forehand return on the net and Mirza also fumbled at the net to get to deuce point. The young Indian held nerves to serve out the game with consecutive points.
Nadiia's two double faults put the Ukrainians in trouble but they came out unscathed with some solid net-play, making it 2-2.
Sania hit a crushing forehand winner to earn a break chance in the sixth game but Raina's backhand return was dispatched for a drop volley winner. Another chance came India's way but Raina netted her backhand from the baseline.
Sania's backhand service return winner earned the Indians another chance and they did not squander it this time to go up 4-2. Raina had an easy hold in the next and now they were one game away from the second round.
Serving for match, Sania went 15-30 but pulled off a well calculated lob to ward off the danger. However, she made two consecutive errors to hand the Ukrainians their first break, the second being a long backhand.
From there on, the match changed dramatically and the Ukrainians started calling the shots.
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Electoral trusts fill BJP coffers after scrapping of electoral bonds, shows ECI website
New Delhi: Contrary to expectations that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be adversely affected by the Supreme Court’s scrapping of the electoral bonds scheme in February 2024, the party’s finances have seen a significant boost in 2024–25 through electoral trusts. It has emerged that electoral trusts alone donated ₹2,577 crore to the BJP during this period.
Following the abolition of electoral bonds, corporate donors seeking partial anonymity appear to have shifted to the electoral trust route, with the BJP continuing to be the largest beneficiary.
According to data available on the Election Commission of India’s website, a total of ₹4,276 crore was donated through electoral trusts, of which the ruling BJP received 83.6 per cent. Compared to 2023–24, corporate donations flowing to the BJP have increased nearly fourfold. The Congress received 7.3 per cent of the total donations, while the Trinamool Congress accounted for 3.6 per cent.
Donations received through electoral trusts constitute only a portion of the total funds collected by political parties. Parties also receive contributions directly from individuals, corporates, institutions and charitable organisations. Over the past several years, donations from sources other than electoral trusts have also shown a steady increase.
