Badminton Worlds: Sindhu enters final
Nanjing (China), Aug 4 : Indian women's singles star P.V. Sindhu overcame Japanese second seed Akane Yamaguchi in straight games here on Saturday to march into the second consecutive final of the Badminton World Championships.
Third seed Sindhu, a three-time World Championships medallist, prevailed 21-16, 24-22 in 55 minutes over Yamaguchi in a semi-final to set up the title clash against Spanish seventh seed and two-time former world champion Carolina Marin.
Carolina, the 2016 Olympic champion, overcame China's sixth seed He Bingjiao with a 13-21, 21-16, 21-13 victory in an hour and nine minutes in the other semi-final.
The final pits Sindhu against Carolina, who defeated the Hyderabadi in the Rio Games 2016. Even though they have won six matches each against each other, Sindhu has won three out of four games she faced Carolina since the final loss in Rio.
For Sindhu, it will be yet another great opportunity to become the first Indian to win a world title as she continues to drive the country's badminton to newer heights.
Against 2017 Asian Championships silver medallist Yamaguchi, Sindhu, 23, was calm and composed even though the 21-year-old Japanese put her in difficult situations with good starts in both the games. Sindhu benefited a lot from several unforced errors on the part of Yamaguchi.
In the first game, Yamaguchi raced away to a 5-0 lead when Sindhu showed the urgency to win three consecutive points. Sindhu pulled level on the eight-point mark riding on a five points on the trot which also gave her the 9-8 lead even though the Japanese went into the mid-game interval with a one-point lead.
After the break, Yamaguchi looked rusty and hurried as she lacked concentration, hitting decent opportunistic shots wide and long. It helped Sindhu to race to an 18-12 lead before she won it 21-16.
In the second game, Yamaguchi slightly changed her approach as she didn't give much flight on the shuttle to Sindhu. Yamaguchi played very quick and fast badminton to trouble the Indian's momentum. A very bright start gave Yamaguchi an 8-4 lead but Sindhu came closest to equalise at 7-8.
However, Yamaguchi continued her impressive start by sticking to her sharp shuttle play. She was very quick on her movements and the strokes flew rightly with her confidence. She made Sinfhu play back and forth and the Indian made some defensive errors, especially on her left side.
It seemed the match was going to the third and final game when Yamaguchi led 19-12, only two points away from the winning the second game.
However, despite the wide gap, a determined Sindhu refused to surrender, digging deep into the approach of a professional for whom every point counts. She reeled off eight points on the trot to stun her younger rival who looked complacent.
Yamaguchi tried to play cunning net game but it didn't work for her as Sindhu retrieved from all angles. Yamaguchi and Sindhu then exchanged a point each with some extraordinary rallies till the 22-point mark, with the Japanese earning couple of point on body-smashes on the Indian.
Afterwards, Sindhu forced an error before a drop shot hit the net and fell on the other side of the net as Yamaguchi dived unsuccessfully to reach it, giving the Sindhu a 24-22 win.
With this win, Sindhu has taken a 7-4 lead in head-to-head record.
Meanwhile, the men's singles final will be fought between Chinese third seed Shi Yuqi and Japanese sixth seed Kento Momota.
Yuqi moved past compatriot and two-time world champion Chen Long 21-11, 21-17 in 44 minutes, while rising star Momota ended the dream run of Malaysian Daren Liew with a 21-16, 21-5 victory in 38 minutes.
In the mixed doubles final, Chinese top seeds Zheng and Huang Yaqiong will meet compatriot second seeds Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping.
The women's doubles final will be an all-Japanese affair between second seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota and 11th seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.
In the men's doubles final, Japanese fifth seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda will take on Chinese fourth seeds Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
