Badminton at Olympics: Lakshya Sen enters men's singles quarterfinals
Paris, Aug 1: India's Lakshya Sen registered a comfortable straight-game win over compatriot HS Prannoy to become only the third male player ever from the country to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics badminton competition here on Thursday.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a reigning Commonwealth Games champion and a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, looked in complete control as he notched up a 21-12 21-6 win over world no. 13 Prannoy in a 39-minute pre-quarterfinal clash.
Sen joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Currently ranked 22, Sen will face 12th seed Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.
"I think having tough matches gives you confidence. I am now ready to go deep into the tournament. It will be a tricky match against Chou, I have to go and recover well and give my 100 %," Sen said after the match.
Sen was steady in his defense and mixed his attack well, while Prannoy, who played a three-game match last evening, looked tired and didn't show much resistance during the 39-minute contest.
It was the end of campaign for Prannoy, who had recovered from a bout of Chikungunya to compete at his maiden Olympics.
Sen was off to a good start, leading 7-4. He kept things under control as Prannoy seemed to struggle, played too defensively and was left to do the catch-up act. Sen closed out the opening game comfortably.
The second game was a blur as Sen looked rock solid and quickly wrapped up the contest after leading all the way.
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Rupee falls 4 paise to 90.24 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee opened weak and declined 4 paise to 90.24 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, as geopolitical uncertainties triggered by the US intervention in Venezuela fuelled the demand for the American currency.
According to forex traders, the rupee is expected to trade lower due to geopolitical development, even though a lower crude prices could provide some cushion.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.21 against the US dollar and lost further to trade at 90.24 against the greenback in early deals.
On Friday, the rupee settled lower by 22 paise at 90.20 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.36 per cent higher at 98.50.
The US on Saturday carried out a military operation in Venezuela an deposed President Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump said the US would "run" the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at USD 60.70 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 135.81 points to 85,626.20 in early trade, while the Nifty was down 25.75 points to 26,302.80.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers, picking up equities worth Rs 289.80 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest RBI data released on Friday showed India's forex reserves jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion in the week to December 26. The overall kitty had increased by USD 4.368 billion to USD 693.318 billion in the previous reporting week.
