Sumit Nagal gets direct entry into singles main draw of US Open
New York: Young Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal has received a direct entry into the US Open singles main draw after several top players pulled out of the Grand Slam starting August 31.
The world no.127 was the last man to receive direct entry into the field of 128, which was determined using the latest ATP rankings, according to the tournament website.
Nagal is the only Indian in the men's field with Prajnesh Gunneswaran, ranked 132, missing out.
Last year, Nagal reached his maiden Grand Slam here, after winning all his qualifying round matches to set up a dream encounter with the legendary Roger Federer.
In the much-anticipated clash, the 22-year old from Jhajjar took a set off Federer before going down 6-4 1-6 2-6 4-6.
Three-time US Open champion and world no 1 Novak Djokovic headlines the field with the likes of Federer and Rafael Nadal giving the tournament a miss.
While Federer has withdrawn from all competitions this year owing to a knee injury, defending champion Nadal pulled out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former champion Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios, Fabio Fognini and Gael Monfils are the other top players missing from the men's field.
Professional tennis tours have been on a hiatus since March because of the coronavirus outbreak, with play resuming for women at Palermo Ladies Open this week in Italy.
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
