Sania Mirza bids adieu to Wimbledon with semifinal loss in mixed doubles
Wimbledon(PTI): Trailblazing Indian tennis star Sania Mirza's swansong appearance at Wimbledon ended in a semi-final defeat to defending champions Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk in the mixed doubles event here.
Mirza and her Croatian partner Mate Pavic, seeded sixth, went down 6-4 5-7 4-6 to Skupski of Great Britain and American Krawczyk in two hours 16 minutes on Wednesday night.
The 35-year-old Mirza is India's most accomplished woman tennis player, having won six Grand Slam titles, including three mixed doubles trophies. She was aiming to complete a Career Slam in mixed doubles.
She had won the the mixed doubles titles at the 2009 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open with Mahesh Bhupathi and the 2014 US Open with Brazillian Bruno Soares.
"The tears, fight and the struggle.. the work we put in is all worth it in the end ..it wasn't meant to be this time at Wimbledon but you have been nothing but spectacular its been an honor to play here and win here over the last 20 years ..i will miss you Until we meet again," Mirza tweeted on Thursday.
Mirza and Pavic, both multiple-time Grand Slam winners, dominated the first set on the back of a strong serve.
Mirza, who is in her last year on tour, and Pavic looked on course to sealing the match as they led 4-2 in the second set but the duo lost five of the next six games as Skupski and Krawczyk, seeded second, forced the decider.
In the decider, Mirza and Pavic drew first blood as they broke their opponent's serve but were immediately broken back. In the 12th game, Pavic double faulted twice with Skupski and Krawczyk converting the match point.
This is Mirza's best mixed doubles performance at the All England Club. She had previously reached the quarterfinals in 2011, 2013 and 2015.
Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam winner, had earlier announced that she would hang up her racquet at the conclusion of the 2022 season.
The 35-year-old Indian star has now bid farewell to Wimbledon having won a women's doubles title in 2015, pairing Martina Hingis.
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Bengaluru: Two booked for disabling 240 CCTV cameras at Chinnaswamy Stadium
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against two persons for allegedly tampering with the CCTV surveillance system at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on the day of the RCB versus GT IPL match on April 24, police said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Manjunath (37) and Abdul Kalam (19), allegedly entered the stadium without valid authorisation, reportedly by misusing a deactivated access card, and tampered with critical surveillance infrastructure, they said.
The complaint was lodged by Aditya Bhat of Staqu Technologies Pvt Ltd, which provides AI-driven surveillance support during match days, police said.
According to the FIR, more than 240 cameras went offline on the morning of the match.
The two, said to be associated with subcontractor IVS Digital Solutions, allegedly damaged Network Video Recorder (NVR) systems and optical fibre connections, disrupting surveillance coverage in key security zones, including entry gates and perimeter areas.
The accused allegedly entered the CCTV room without proper access and later moved to a junction box near the parking area, where fibre connections were damaged, the FIR stated.
The alleged sabotage affected the availability of surveillance feeds required by police personnel deployed for match security, it added.
A senior police officer said that on the morning of April 24, at around 11.30 am, the two employees, working under a sub-vendor providing digital services during match days, carried out the act.
According to him, the accused duo damaged CCTV fibre connections and a video recorder. The issue was detected and rectified within an hour.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the two employees may have had a personal grudge against the company, possibly related to pending payments, which may have led them to commit the act, he said.
“Both accused have been identified, and further action will be taken soon. All CCTVs were restored within an hour, and the disruption did not impact match proceedings,” he added.
