badminton photo kottayam l monday l march 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Rise of Sat-Chi continues: World No. 1 duo clinch Paris Open Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty make short work of unseeded Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in straight games Rubber-stumping a dominating week road to title The Indian pair, one of the favourites to return from the French capital with a medal at the Olympics this Summer, didn’t lose a single game all week in the 750 Super Series tournament. Across the five matches, they never allowed their opponents to settle. Their next event is the one at the All England beginning this week R1: bt Ong Yew Sin/ Teo Ee Yi 21-13, 24-22 R2: bt Man Wei Chong/ Kai Wun Tee 21-13, 21-12 QF: Supak Jomkoh/ Kittinupong Kedren 21-19, 21-13 SF: Kang Min Hyuk/ Seo Seung Jae 21-13, 21-16 Good start to the year While this is their first title of the year, they have always looked in control. That this is their third final of the year (India Open and Malaysia Open in January) is a testament to that. 2 The Indian pair has won the Paris OPen for the second time CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI TMC goes solo, INDIA out of Bengal Mamata Banerjee announces candidates for all 42 LS seats: Cong says talks still possible the GREENHORNS PRA N A B M O N DAL & PR E E T HA N AIR @ Kolkata / New Delhi OFFICIALLY closing the door on the INDIA bloc in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, roping in both veterans and greenhorns. Despite the snub, the Congress said there is still time to make the alliance work through negotiations. “Our doors are always open and an alliance can happen anytime before withdrawal,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Among the newcomers in the TMC list are former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who will contest from state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s Baharampur constituency in The TMC list has six political newcomers, including former cricketer Yusuf Pathan. The other fresh faces are actor Rachana Banerjee, psychiatrist Sharmila Sarkar, PhD scholar Shahnawaz Ali Raihan, former IPS officer Prasun Banerjee, and Padma Shri recipient Kalipada Soren Mamata Banerjee Murshidabad district. Adhir, a vocal critic of TMC, was against the Congress having any truck with the Trinamool. Murshidabad has the highest Muslim population in Bengal at 67% and Chowdhury has been winning the Baharampur seat since 1999 though his victory margin has dropped over the years. Reacting to Pathan’s candidature, Chowdhury said: “If Mamata Banerjee wanted to show respect to the cricketer, she could have sent him to the Rajya Sabha. Bur she decided to field him in Baharampur to divide Muslim votes.” Notably, the TMC decided to field Mahua Moitra, who was suspended from Lok Sabha in connection with cash-for-question scandal, from Krishnagar. “The allegation levelled against her was during the tenure of her previous term in Lok Sabha. If she gets elected fresh, the old allegations will not hold and there will be no bar for her to become an MP said a senior ,” TMC leader. Among the five sitting MPs axed from the list is Nusrat Jahan from Basirhat, where Sandeshkhali uproar surfaced. The talks between the two parties hit a roadblock last month after TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee refused to part with more than two seats for the Congress in the state. Though the Congress scaled down its demand from 10 seats to six, the TMC chose to contest solo in the state. The TMC’s main grouse was West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s continuous attacks on Mamata and the party . Kerala, K’taka to jointly curb man-wildlife conflict E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin presents a copy of an article published in this newspaper on 1947 to commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday in New Delhi. The article pitches for enhancing trade between India and Switzerland | PTI India, Euro bloc deal targets $100bn FDI E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi INDIA on Sunday signed a trade pact with a four-nation European bloc that gives access to India’s goods and services to their markets and opens up possibilities of $100 billion investments as FDI in the country spread over the next 15 years, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries. The four nation bloc includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway , and Switzerland. Dubbed European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the trade pact would not include foreign portfolio investments and it would take an year for it to come into force. This agreement can generate upto one million jobs in India. EFTA will eliminate or reduce the import tariffs on 99.6% of India’s exports. Similarly India will eliminate or reduce import tariffs on 95.3% of the exports from EFTA nations. The deal gives the four nations market access to non-agri products, concessions on processed agricultural products. However, agricultural products are out of the ambit of the pact and there is no change on duty on gold. The trade pact also mutually recognises professional services, allowing Indian professionals to have more opportunities in the bloc. On IPR, both the sides agreed to follow TRIPs. Varkala ‘Govt agencies also responsible for mishap’ Tourism Director P B Nooh says DTPC, Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Council can’t wash hands of incident, to file report on bridge collapse soon | P5 In the wake of an increasing number of human-wildlife conflicts being reported from both the states, Kerala and Karnataka signed an agreement on Sunday to tackle the menace jointly . As per the agreement, Kerala and Karnataka will jointly map areas prone to wildlife attacks, examine the reasons, avoid delay in tackling the issue and ensure speedy exchange of information between the two sides. The agreement was reached at the a meeting of the forest ministers of both states at Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. The meeting was also attended by senior forest officials from Tamil Nadu. During the meeting, attended by Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran and his Karnataka counterpart Eshwar Khandre, a joint Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for managing mananimal conflict was adopted. An interstate coordination committee charter was also unveiled during the meeting that marked a commitment for collaborative efforts in conflict mitigation in affected areas. During discussions, Saseendran stressed the need for amendments to the ‘outdated’ provisions in the Wildlife (Protection) Act to effectively deal with wildlife attacks. “It is high time that the Wildlife Act of 1972 is amended in a timely manner. The social realities have management strategies Recognising shared habitats and responsibility to conserve forests amid expanding human settlements Commitment to seamless collaboration, structured intelligence sharing and joint operations Exchange of critical resources, expertise and knowledge Synchronised population estimation and coordinated operations Advisory board comprising experts to resolve conflict drastically changed compared to 50 years ago when the legislation was enacted,” Saseendran told the meeting. The meeting focused on the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve covering Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and highlighted the need for joint efforts in estimating the population of elephants and vultures. Discussions also centred on sharing the best practices in forest and wildlife conservation among the states. Addressing challenges such as invasive weeds and exploring collaboration in employment generation were also discussed. asian qualifiers Error at trials for Olympic medallists Bajrang, Ravi pionships and qualifier next month will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Tokyo bronze medallist Bajrang Pu- Gold medallists from six Olympic nia had been in the forefront of a mas- weight categories each in men’s freesive protest against former Wrestling style and Greco-Roman will represent Federation of India the country at the president Brij Bhushqualifying event. The an Sharan Singh last women’s trials are year. Missing most of scheduled at SAI Centhe season last year, he t re i n Pat i a l a o n failed to medal at the Monday . Asian Games despite Even as the loss was getting a direct entry second consecutive seBajrang Punia Ravi Kumar Dahiya lection trial loss for in 65kg. To add to his woes, on Sunday, he Ravi in the last nine failed to secure a place India team for Asian months, it was Baqualifiers in the India squad for jrang’s defeat that garthe Asian Championnered attention. He 57kg 86kg ships and Asian Olym- Aman Sherawat Deepak Punia was given a direct enpic Games qualifiers try for the Asian to be held next month. Games by the ad-hoc 65kg 97kg Joining him is ancommittee headed by Sujeet Kalkal Deepak Nehra other Tokyo silver Bhupinder Singh Ba74kg 125kg medallist Ravi Dahiya, jwa last year. Call it poJaideep Sumit Malik who had been nursing etic, aggrieved wresinjuries for quite some tler Sujeet Kalkal, who time. The trials at SAI Centre in moved the Delhi HC against Bajrang’s Sonepat were held jointly by the WFI direct entry unsuccesfully, found a and ad-hoc committee after United place in the squad. Bajrang, who had a World Wrestling said it would accept tough first bout too, didn’t compete in entries only by WFI. The Asian cham- the bronze play-off. F i r o z M i r z a @ Chennai press Intake K’taka may ban cotton candy, regulate sale of street food | P5 US ship en route to Gaza to build pier | P9 Did Modi stop Putin from nuking Ukraine? y e s h i s e l i @ New Delhi The Biden administration feared that Russia may nuke Ukraine sometime in late 2022, when it was a step back in its war with Ukraine. So the US administration enlisted India and China’s help to prevent Russia using a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, according to a new book, The Return of Great Powers written by CNN analyst and anchor Jim Sciutto. He says without taking the officials’ names. A chapter of the book is shared on the CNN website and the book is to be published on March 12. US officials said outreach and public statements from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping helped avert a crisis. “I think the fact that we know China weighed in, India weighed in, others weighed in, may have had some effect on their thinking,” a senior US administration official said. “I can’t demonstrate this positively , but I think that’s our assessment.” It may be recalled that Modi had said “Today’s era must not be of war’’ and urged both Russia and Ukraine to resolve the issues through dialogue and diplomacy. His statement “Today’s era must not be of war’’ was also used in the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration in November 2022. The Biden administration’s fear was not just hypothetical— it was also based on some information that it picked up, the book revealed. It picked up a collection of developments, analysis and highly sensitive new intelligence. In 2022 Ukrainian forces had a lead on Russian-occupied Kherson and Ukrainian forces advanced, entire Russian units were in danger of being surrounded, the book revealed. The view inside the administration was that such a catastrophic loss could be a “potential trigger” for the use of nuclear weapons, it added. E X P RESS REA D Modi in Palakkad on Friday; 4th visit this yr T’Puram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kerala this Friday, his fourth visit this year. The PM will hold a road show in Palakkad for BJP candidate C Krishnakumar. The BJP state leadership is also trying to get his time to campaign in Pathanamthitta for Anil Antony, said sources in BJP.
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