Badminton: Kidambi Srikanth smashes his way past Lakshya into final of World Championships
Huelva (Spain), Dec 18: Displaying immense character, seasoned Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth staged a remarkable comeback to down young compatriot Lakshya Sen 17-21 21-14 21-17 and enter the final of the BWF World Badminton Championships here on Saturday.
Clashing swords in what was a historic match for Indian badminton, Srikanth raced to an early lead before his younger opponent pulled level at 2-2. Two more points and Srikanth was in lead again.
Then it was Sen's turn to briefly take an 8-7 lead but Srikanth immediately levelled it at 8-8.
The 20-year Sen regained the lead and at 13-10, he was looking confident of maintaining the momentum, but Srikanth drew level at 16-16.
Sen dominated from thereon to grab the first game and wrest the initiative.
However, Srikanth roared back into the contest with a flurry of smashes to take the second game and he continued in the same vein in the third game despite some fine defensive show by the 20-year-old to emerge winner in a match that lasted 69 minutes.
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CPIM's M A Baby frontrunner for general secretary post, Bengal leaders back AIKS' Dhawale
Madurai (PTI): Former Kerala minister M A Baby appeared to be the frontrunner for the post of CPI(M) general secretary with the Politburo backing him, even as leaders from West Bengal backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale.
According to sources, many leaders backed Baby at a meeting of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), on Saturday night.
However, leaders from West Bengal, including Nilotpal Basu, Tapan Sen, Ram Chandra Dome and Md Salim, put their weight behind Dhawale, the sources said.
Dhawale initially proposed Salim's name but Salim said he wanted to continue as the secretary for West Bengal, where the CPI(M) is working to regain foothold. The leaders from the state then proposed Dhawale's name.
The final decision on the general secretary will be taken after the new Central Committee and Politburo are decided on Sunday.
Many of Baby's supporters gathered at the venue of the ongoing party congress, held once every three years, in Sitaram Yechury Nagar here and raised slogans backing him.
Several top leaders of the Politburo are likely to step down as they have crossed the age of 75.
According to the sources, members said during the Politburo meeting that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should get another extension.
Vijayan, 79, was given an extension in the last party congress as well.
Brinda Karat (77), Subhashini Ali (77), Prakash Karat (77), Manik Sarkar (76), Suryakant Mishra (76) and G Ramakrishnan (75) are among the Politburo members who have crossed or reached the age limit of 75 set by the party.
The 24th party congress of the CPI(M) began on April 2 and will end on Sunday.
