World Tour Finals: Sensational Sindhu seizes final spot with thrilling win over Intanon
Guangzhou, Dec 13: Continuing with her sizzling form, Indian badminton star P V Sindhu breezed into the summit clash of the World Tour Finals for the second successive time after prevailing over 2013 world champion Ratchanok Intanon in a tense semifinal here Saturday.
Sindhu, who finished runner-up at the last edition, staved off a strong challenge from the fighting Thai to emerge a 21-16 25-23 winner in 54 minutes.
The 23-year-old Indian came into the match with a 3-4 record against the Thai player but Sindhu was buoyed by her recent results as she has not lost to Intanon in the last two years.
The Olympic silver medallist will now fight for the title with Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, to whom she had lost an epic World Championship final, last year.
The duo started on an equal note, splitting the initial 14 points. Sindhu tried to attack the long serves of Intanon, putting pressure on the Thai with her power-packed returns to lead 10-7. The Indian missed a couple of points before entering the break with a small 11-9 advantage.
Intanon quickly erased the deficit with a brilliant angled return at the net. While the Thai shuttler tried to target Sindhu's body, she also committed errors of judgement and went wide allowing Sindhu to stay a step ahead always.
Sindhu tried to put some lovely touch to her returns, leaving Intanon wrong footed many times. She also unleashed some powerful smashes to trouble the Thai player.
Sindhu grabbed four game points when Intanon went wide and sealed it when the Thai player's angled return got buried in the net.
After the change of sides, Sindhu rushed away with the first four points but the deceptive Intanon narrowed down the lead to 5-6 with counter attacking cross-court smash and then drew parity at 7-7 when Sindhu sent one wide.
But another shot going long and Sindhu was back in the lead and she made it 10-7 when the Thai player made another error in judging the shuttle on the line.
A 27-shot rally ended with a powerful smash from Intanon, who again levelled the scores at 10-10 and went to the break with a small 11-10 advantage when Sindhu committed two unforced errors.
Sindhu reeled off four points to again go into the lead but Intanon produced a superb net dribble and a precise smash at the deep corner to keep breathing down the Indian's neck.
Intanon equalled again when Sindhu went wide and then led 16-15 with another body smash.
Errors again caught up with Intanon as she missed the line and then went long as Sindhu led 18-16. But the Thailand shuttler again drew parity at 18-18 with another brilliant smash and a lucky net cord placed the game evenly-poised 19-19.
Intanon unleashed a superb cross court smash to move to a game point advantage. Sindhu responded with her trademark smash before hitting one out as it was advantage Intanon again.
An angled backhand return at the nets helped Sindhu make it 21-21 and she immediately grabbed her first match point with another smash.
Intanon saved it with another smash at the deep forehand corner and shot to lead when Sindhu found the net. But she stumbled on two unforced errors to hand Sindhu the match point. Sindhu converted it with a smash from near the net following a fierce rally.
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.
Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
