Saina, Srikanth enter second round of All England
Birmingham:India's Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth made a winning start to the All England Championship, notching up straight game victories in the women's and men's singles competition here.
A former finalist, Saina defeated Scotland's Kristy Gilmour 21-17 21-18 in 35 minutes, while Srikanth took half an hour to dispose off France's Brice Leverdez 21-13 21-11 on Wednesday night.
In the next round, Saina will take on Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, while Srikanth will face Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie.
"I really enjoy it a lot, it's something every player looks up to and the challenge is even more tougher than regular Super Series events," Saina, an Olympic bronze medallist, said after progressing to the next stage.
"Everyone wants to have that trophy but, as I said, you have to play your natural game to be the best and can't really put pressure on yourself that you have to have it. If it is in your destiny you will definitely get it, but the challenge is to give your best and beat the best players," she added.
B Sai Praneeth also made it to the second round and will face Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus.
Sameer Verma squandered a first game advantage to go down fighting 21-16 18-21 14-21 to former world champion and world no 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, bowing out of the tournament.
The women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy fought a gruelling battle before losing 21-16 26-28 16-21 to seventh seeded Japanese pair of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto.
Sikki and Pranaav Jerry Chopra, who is coming back from an injury, lost 21-23 17-21 to Hong King's Chang Tak Ching and NG Wing Yung.
The men's pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also lost 19-21 21-16 14-21 to the Chinese combination of Ou Xuanyi and Ren Xiangyu.
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No issue can be resolved through military conflict: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a "swift end" to the conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine, saying no issue can be resolved through military confrontation.
Modi made the remarks after holding wide-ranging talks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
"India and Finland, both, believe in the rule of law, dialogue, and diplomacy. We are in agreement that no issue can be resolved through military conflict alone," he said. "Be it Ukraine or West Asia, we will continue to support the swift end of conflicts and every effort towards peace," Modi said in his media statement.
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In the talks, the two sides also agreed to accord India-Finland relations in digitalisation and sustainability as a strategic partnership.
"This partnership, from AI to 6G telecom, from clean energy to quantum computing, will give momentum and energy to our cooperation in many high-tech areas," he said. Modi said the India-EU free trade agreement will bolster trade ties between India and Finland.
"This agreement will further strengthen trade, investment, and technology cooperation between India and Finland," he said.
Finnish President Stubb began a four-day visit to India on Wednesday with an aim to shore up bilateral cooperation across a wide spectrum of areas, including trade, investment and critical technology.
