Sindhu, Srikanth advance to second round of Indonesia Masters
Jakarta (PTI): Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round of their respective events at the Indonesia Masters badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
While fifth seed Sindhu beat Manami Suizu of Japan 22-20 21-18 in a 53-minute women's singles match, Srikanth, currently ranked 33rd in the world, battled for one hour and 12 minutes to get the better of world No.22 Koki Watanabe 21-15 21-23 24-22.
Srikanth will next play fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, who defeated Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 21-14 21-15 in another first round match.
But Kiran George made a first round exit after losing 17-21 14-21 to Moh Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia.
In women's singles, Akarshi Kashyap too bowed out in the opening round, losing to Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21-8 20-22 17-21.
India's campaign ended in mixed doubles with the pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde and Dhruv Kapila and Tanish Crasto exiting in the very first round.
While Kapoor and Gadde lost 9-21 20-22 to fourth seeds Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France, Kapila and Crasto were shown the door by another French pair of Julien Maio and Lea Palermo 23-21 20-22 6-21.
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BJP using women's quota bill as front to pass Delimitation Bill that will break India: Mamata
Cooch Behar (WB) (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law in Parliament as a front for the Delimitation Bill that would "break the country into pieces".
The TMC will fight this Central government's move at every step, she asserted at her party's poll rally here.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law, along with the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, to implement the proposed amended women's quota law, in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
According to the Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats will also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Opposing the Centre's move, Banerjee alleged that "the BJP brought the Delimitation Bill while keeping the women's reservation bill at the front".
"The BJP is trying to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to nearly 850 through the Delimitation Bill. It will break the country into pieces," the TMC supremo said.
She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not speaking the truth about the development of north Bengal at a BJP rally last week.
"The prime minister said nothing was done for the development of north Bengal. But we spent Rs 1.72 lakh crore on the development of the region," Banerjee said and asked Modi to cross-check data before making such remarks.
