Shuttler Lakshya stumbles in final hurdle, settles for silver in Youth Olympics
Buenos Aires, Oct 13: Promising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen settled for a silver medal after he lost the men's singles summit clash against Li Shifeng of China in straight games in the Youth Olympics here.
Sen, the reigning junior Asian champion, lost 15-21 19-21 in a 42-minute final match to bag the silver. He had beaten Shifeng in straight games in the quarterfinals of the Asian Championships in July but on Friday evening, it was the turn of the Chinese to turn the tables on the 17-year-old.
In both the games, Shifeng led all through and Sen was playing catch-up, eventually failing to succeed.
In the first game, Shifeng took an early lead and raced to 14-5 in no time. Sen made a fine recovery to narrow down the gap to 13-16 but he could not sustain it and Shifeng went ahead 18-13 and then made it 20-14 to have six game points. Though Sen saved one game point, the Chinese won the next one to pocket the first game in 17 minutes.
The second game was a closer fight than the first but the Chinese was leading all the time. Shifeng was ahead 8-7 initially but the gap widened to 12-7 before Sen made it 11-14. The three-point gap remained for some time before the Chinese made it 18-14 and then 19-14.
Sen made a last-ditch effort to save the match by winning three straight points but Shifeng still made it 20-17 to have three match points.
Sen was still not throwing the towel as he reeled off two straight points to make it 19-20 and just one point away from a deuce. But his Chinese opponent was a hard nut to crack as Shifeng won the final point to clinch the match and the gold.
This was India's fourth silver along with three gold in the ongoing Youth Olympics.
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.
Ex-SC judge V Ramasubramanian appointed new NHRC chief
New Delhi, Dec 23: Former Supreme Court judge V Ramasubramanian has been appointed the new chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, the rights panel said on Monday.
The post of NHRC chairperson had been lying vacant since Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra completed his tenure on June 1.
Mishra served as the eighth chairperson of the rights panel and was appointed to its top post in June 2021.
On December 18, a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting to select the next chairperson of the NHRC, sources earlier said.
A former chief justice of India or a retired judge of the top court are appointed as NHRC chairperson by the president on the recommendation of the selection committee.
Justice (retd) Ramasubramanian, a former judge of the apex court, has been appointed the chairperson of the NHRC, a senior official said, adding "the NHRC received the communication about the appointment today".
Former CJIs H L Dattu and K G Balakrishnan are among those who have headed the rights body in the past.
The NHRC, in a post on X, said, "Hon'ble President of India appoints Shri Justice V. Ramasubramanian (Retd.) as the Chairperson, and Shri Priyank Kanoongo and Dr. Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi (Retd.) as the Members of the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC), India."
Kanoongo earlier served as a chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
"And now as member of the NHRC, I will try to fulfil the responsibilities expected of me," he told on Monday.
Mishra, a former Supreme Court judge, was also the first non-CJI to be appointed to the NHRC chief post since the amendment of the Protection of Human Rights Act in 2019.
He had succeeded former Chief Justice of India H L Dattu.
Vijaya Bharathi Sayani, a member of NHRC, had become its acting chairperson with effect from June 2 after Mishra had demitted office.
