Satwik-Chirag loses to world No.1 Sukamuljo and Gideon in second match
Tokyo: The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a straight game loss to world number one Marcus Gideon Fernaldi and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in their second Group A match at the Olympics on Monday.
The world number 10 Indian duo could never get into any kind of rhythm and lost 13-21 12-21 in 32 minutes against the top seeded team. It was their ninth defeat to the Indonesian pair in as many meetings.
Sukamuljo and Gideon are now at the top of the group, while Satwik and Chirag are on the second spot. The Indians will look to beat England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, who had also suffered a defeat against the famed Indonesians.
World number three Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, the fourth team in Group A, also notched up a win against the English duo earlier in the day to stay in contention.
The match started with short rallies with both the parties moving neck and neck till 6-6. The Indonesians then reeled off five straight points to enter the break with four advantage points.
Sukamuljo was simply sensational in front of the court, using his high racquet speed to perfection.
At 9-13, Chirag took a medical timeout after he seemed to have hurt his toe.
After the resumption, the Indonesian pair continued to dominate the proceedings and grabbed eight game points and converted in the second attempt to take a 1-0 lead.
The Indians seemed to have worked out a strategy early in the second game to lead 6-3, but the Indonesian combo turned it around soon to lead 9-7 with four straight points, riding on a series of superb serves.
Sukamuljo and Gideon entered the break with a three-point lead after the former sent the shuttle to Satwik's body. The duo forced the Indians into committing errors and move to 15-10.
It was a one-way traffic mostly as the Indonesian duo stepped up the intensity to move to 18-10.
A net error gave Indonesia eight match points and they sealed it when Chirag went to the net.
Satwik and Chirag shocked the world number three pair of Yang Lee and Chi-Lin Wang of Chinese Taipei in their opening match in Group A on Saturday.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu also made a winning start to her women's singles campaign, with a straight game victory over Israel's Ksenia Polikarpova on Sunday.
However, B Sai Praneeth had lost his opening match to Misha Zilberman of Israel in the men's singles.
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Farmers' agitation: SC asks high-powered committee to submit recommendations
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday asked a high-powered committee, which was constituted to amicably resolve the grievances of the farmers who held an agitation at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana in 2024, to submit its report-cum-recommendations.
The farmers were protesting over a plethora of demands, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that the matter involving the blockade of highways, particularly at the Shambhu border, stands resolved and vehicles are plying there without any obstruction.
"It seems to us that the matter is now ripe to close these proceedings. This can be done after obtaining a report from the high-powered committee containing their brief suggestions, which can then be forwarded to the appropriate authorities," the bench said.
"We impress upon the committee to submit its report-cum-recommendations...," it added.
The bench said the report-cum-recommendations should be in a sealed cover and the committee would not divulge its content in the public domain until further orders of the court.
The five-member high-powered committee is headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nawab Singh.
In September 2024, observing that the farmers' protest should not be politicised, the apex court constituted the committee to amicably resolve their grievances.
The top court had said the issues facing the farmers should not be politicised and be considered by the committee in a phased manner.
The court had passed the order while hearing the Haryana government's plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's March 2024 order, asking it to remove within a week the barricades erected at the Shambhu border, near Ambala, where the protesting farmers were camping since February 13, 2024.
The Haryana government had set up barricades on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway in February 2024, after the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha announced that the farmers would march to Delhi in support of their demands.
