Indian-origin Samir Banerjee lifts Wimbledon boys' singles title
London, Jul 11: Indo-American tennis player Samir Banerjee lifted the Wimbledon boys' singles title on Sunday, a remarkable triumph for the youngster who was testing his skills in a Grand Slam for only the second time in his fledgling career.
All of 17, the player from New Jersey just wanted to win a match at the biggest stage in the junior circuit, but little did he know that he would be the last boy standing at the hallowed grass courts.
And that too when he did not have his coach Carlos Esteban with him since his wife had reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
Up against compatriot Victor Lilov, the teenager won 7-5 6-3 in the summit clash that lasted one hour 22 minutes. He broke his rival thrice and dropped serve only once in the facile triumph.
"It's going to be amazing, this trophy is going to be my centrepiece, I'm going to look at this and be inspired to keep playing and hopefully come back here as a pro," he was quoted as saying by the Wimbledon website.
"I really just wanted to win a round, I didn't expect this. I had a tough French Open, lost to a good player.
"So here I just wanted to keep my expectations low so that if I passed them, then I'd be happy. But this was way beyond my wildest dreams," he said to a round of applause from the crowd.
Since the coach was unavailable, Banerjee 's uncle Kanad accompanied him.
"My uncle is here, he's not technically a tennis coach, but if these results keep happening then I should start travelling with him more," he said jokingly.
As Lilov's backhand sailed over the baseline on match-point, Banerjee dropped his racquet, put both his hands on his head in disbelief as if to say that this was not what he expected to do but still accomplished.
"Remember the name - Samir Banerjee. The American wins his first junior Grand Slam singles title by beating Victor Lilov in the boys' singles final," the official twitter handle of the Championships posted.
Legendary Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj congratulated Banerjee.
"Wonderful win for Indian American 17 yr old Samir Bannerjee in the boys singles at Wimbledon 2021. Wish him well for a great future," the 67-year old who reached singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon and US Open tweeted.
Banerjee's father Kunal was born in Assam, and his mother Usha was brought up in Andhra Pradesh before both migrated to the USA in the mid-1980s and got married there.
The youngster, reportedly, will take a break from the tour to enroll for a degree in either economics or political science at the Columbia University in the coming months.
While Banerjee's victory is a testament to the system that US Tennis Association has put in place, India has been struggling to field a worthy contender at junior Grand Slams for some time now.
Due to the lack of a robust domestic circuit and not having enough competitions at home to earn world ranking points, India has been struggling to create the next crop of youngsters.
Yuki Bhambri was the last Indian to win a junior singles title when he triumphed at the Australian Open in 2009 while Sumit Nagal won the Wimbledon boys' doubles event in 2015 with Vietnam's Ly Hoang Nam.
Ramanathan Krishnan was the first Indian to win a junior major when he won the 1954 Junior Wimbledon championship.
His son Ramesh Krishnan won the 1970 junior Wimbledon and junior French Open titles while Leander Paes won the 1990 junior Wimbledon and junior US Open.
Paes was also a runner-up at the junior Australian Open.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
High-power computing AI cloud being developed for armed forces: Par panel on defence
New Delhi (PTI): A parliamentary panel on defence has said that a "high-power computing AI cloud" is being developed effectively for the armed forces, and recommended that all technology-related programmes must follow laid-down time lines of their delivery to enable the forces to use and adapt themselves in a timely manner.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, in its report presented in Parliament on Tuesday, also recommended that the efforts made by the Army towards women empowerment will "remain unabated" in the years to come so that a "level playing field for the women shall be created".
The report is titled "Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/ Recommendations contained in the Eighth Report of Standing Committee on Defence (18th Lok Sabha) on Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2025-26 on Army, Air Force, Navy, Joint Staff, Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme and Directorate General of Armed Forces Medical Services."
In its report, the panel said, "During the oral evidence, a representative of the Navy informed the Committee that there are plans to increase the number of ships and submarines to 234 in the next few years."
"At present, there are a total of 61 ships under construction, which will be inducted into the Navy by the year 2030. The Navy submitted that out of this, 60 ships are being built in our Indian shipyards. The Committee have also been informed that apart from under-construction projects, the Navy has been given the government's Acceptance of Necessity for these inductions of which construction will start in the next one to two years," it said.
Appreciating the efforts made by the Navy towards achieving indigenisation, the panel recommend that concerted efforts be made to expedite completion of the ongoing projects so that the Navy attains "greater degree of 'Aatmanirbharta' in near future".
The Defence Ministry, in its action taken reply, has said that currently, 60 of the 61 warships under construction are being built in India, while contract conclusion in respect of 62 more ships and submarines, and 120 fast interceptor craft, to be built in domestic shipyards, is also at an "advanced stage".
Achieving higher indigenous content across weapons, sensors and equipment that supports the growth of the Indian shipbuilding sector continues to be a key focus area. Ongoing shipbuilding projects are being actively pursued with concerned shipyards for timely fructification, the government said.
"To achieve timely completion of ongoing projects, the production directorate at NHQ (naval headquarters) are reviewing the progress of these ongoing projects through Warship Oversee Team (WOT) using a structured review mechanism. In the last 10 years, an average of 65 per cent of the total expenditure has been focused towards indigenous procurement. During FY 2023-24, the ratio of 83.91:16.09 between Indian and foreign sources has been achieved," it told the panel.
The Committee had expressed hope that the country marches ahead in indigenous content in ship design and construction so as to achieve the goal of self-reliance, thereby supporting the domestic industrial-military ecosystem.
The panel further said it has been informed that a "high-power computing AI cloud is being developed effectively for all the three Services."
"The Committee understand that conventional wars were fought in only three modes i.e., land, air and water, but recently there is a paradigm shift in the technology used in fighting a war.
"There have been innovations and experiments in western countries, and the use of drones, including sea-drones, space, cyberspace, kinetic and non-kinetic format etc. has enveloped the sphere of war, which can be fought from very distant locations through a remote-controlled methodology," it said.
The panel said it is "confident that the technology-related National Missions, National Quantum Mission and high-power computing AI cloud will definitely enable our armed forces to develop a robust digital infrastructure, besides improving the existing weaponry".
"While appreciating all these critical developments, the Committee, can here, only recommend that all the initiatives/programs must follow laid-down time lines of their technological delivery to enable the Forces to use and adapt themselves in a timely manner," it added.
The government has replied that modernisation of the Indian Army is progressing as part of a "deliberate and comprehensive 'Integrated Capability Development Plan' ensuring induction of modern military platforms as well as rapid embracement of new technologies to ensure 24x7 operational readiness in defence of the country".
The Committee also said it is "happy to learn that a number of steps have been taken to ensure induction of more women in Indian Army".
On the IAF, he said, during deliberations, a representative of the Indian Air Force apprised the Committee that the "capability of Su-30 is being upgraded through indigenous upgraded programme and will be executed by HAL, DRDO and private industry under the supervision of IAF".
On Navy's manpower, it said, during deliberations, a representative of the Navy informed the Committee that the "Indian Navy has 10,045 officers, 59,828 sailors, 11,634 Agniveers and 32,171 defence civilians".
"The Committee have been informed that all personnel are fully trained for their work and are fully capable of maintaining combatability and operational preparedness of the Navy," it said.
