Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag enter Hong Kong final
Hong Kong (PTI): India's Lakshya Sen entered his first major final in two years after edging out Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in straight games, while the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the summit clash here on Saturday.
The 23-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, ended a long wait for a title shot with a fighting 23-21, 22-20 win over world No. 9 and third seed Chou in a gruelling 56-minute semifinal.
The Commonwealth Games champion had last won a Super 500 tournament at the Canada Open in July 2023. He also clinched a Super 300 title at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in December last year.
Currently ranked world No. 20, Lakshya will face second seed Li Shi Feng of China in the final.
Earlier, the world No. 9 duo of Satwik and Chirag defeated Chinese Taipei's Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng-Kuan 21-17, 21-15 to make their first final of the season after six semifinal heartbreaks. The eighth-seeded Indians will take on China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, silver medallists at the Paris Olympics.
"Finals, finally. It's been seven semifinals since China Open last year. We've been constantly playing semifinals and I think we really wanted to play a final. It's been a while," Chirag said.
"The last final we played was the Thailand Open, probably in May, before the Olympics. We really wanted to do well here and I think we're really happy. Still one more match to go.
"World Championships was good, although we would have loved to play the final, but I think the pairs that we beat with the confidence that we had coming into the World Championships, it was quite good. But having said that, yeah, really happy that we are playing a final here, finally broke that semifinal jinx."
Lakshya read his opponent's attack well during the close-to-an-hour contest to stay ahead for most of the match. He was up 3-0 in the first game, but the 35-year-old Chou kept snapping at his heels before the Indian secured a four-point cushion at the break.
Chou clawed back to 12-12 with four straight points. The duo exchanged parallel shots, with Lakshya showing solid defence, including a forehand return into the gap, but a service fault gave Chou 15-14 lead.
The Taiwanese erred at the net, but replied with a cross-court smash. He then went long twice as Lakshya moved to 18-15. Chou thought there was a double hit during a net dribble, but the umpire ruled against him. Lakshya went long, allowing Chou to cut it to 17-18, and then levelled at 18-18 after another error from the Indian.
At 19-19, the two engaged in a 51-shot rally that ended with Chou finding the net. He hit back to make it 20-20 with a brilliant defensive retrieval. Lakshya earned a second game point when Chou netted a backhand, but squandered it with another long shot. A long serve from Chou finally gave Lakshya his third game point, which he converted with a net cord.
After a 3-3 start in the second, Lakshya slipped to 4-7 with a few errors. Chou stretched his lead to 13-10 with smashes and then to 15-12 with a series of powerful jump hits. Lakshya responded with a delicate drop but Chou regained control at 17-14.
The Indian saved two game points with an easy kill and a clean winner on the line to make it 19-20. He then produced a smash and an outstanding defensive shot to grab match point, sealing the contest again with a fortunate net cord.
The opening game saw the two pairs locked at 3-3 and 6-6 before Satwik's smashes and Chirag’s sharp interceptions helped the Indians inch ahead 11-8.
Though the Taiwanese clawed back to 12-12, the Indians surged to 15-12 and closed the game on their second game point with Chirag's angled, high-paced return.
Chen and Lin started stronger in the second, leading 4-2, but India restored parity at 6-6 after a service misjudgment from their opponents.
A couple of errors from Chirag gave the Taiwanese a 10-8 cushion, only for Satwik to unleash another booming smash to level things at 12-all.
From there, the Indians tightened their grip, moving to 17-15 as Satwik punished a weak return.
Soon it became 19-15 in India's favour before a net error by Chen handed Satwik and Chirag five match points.
The Indians converted immediately after the Taiwanese went long.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
