Shalmali extends Archana

PONDICHERRY, OCT 12: The stage was set for the big guns to take over. Not that they exploded but gave enough indication that the warm-up ...

PONDICHERRY, OCT 12: The stage was set for the big guns to take over. Not that they exploded but gave enough indication that the warm-up is in the right earnest for an exciting finale in the National Insurance All-India ranking table tennis tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

The day started on the wrong note for the organisers with the second seed Arup Basak failing to make it. That meant the men’s draw had to be reshuffled resulting in a delayed start of around 90 minutes.

Arjun Dutta clearly relished the tag of the second seed and suddenly seemed to be aware of that making light of a first game loss to teach a lesson or two to the Maharashtra youngster Swapnil Namjoshi. Dutta won 15-21 21-8 21-15 21-10. Bengal’s Subhajit Saha (Sr) downed a few local hearts in his 21-14 21-11 21-16 whipping act taking Selvamuthukumar in his stride.

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Two former National champions meeting in a first round of the women’s singles is not an in-thing. Ambika Radhika, out of the game for sometime, met her match at the hands of Mantu Ghosh. Radhika was not short of support but the lay-off made that difference.

An unwell M S Mythili thanked her stars getting a walk over from Manisha Rane. The other TN girl and second seed NR Indu warmed up with a business-like 21-14 21-17 21-14 win over Nandita Saha. The seasoned stalwart Archana Vishwanath was totally lost against Shalmali Mhatre but still managed to win a close contest 16-21 21-10 21-15 19-21 22-20.

SP leader Azam Khan walks out of jail after 23 months, hundreds of supporters welcome him

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Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, who is facing multiple cases, walked out of the Sitapur jail today after 23 months. He was scheduled to be released early Tuesday morning, but it was delayed due to impending court proceedings. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Sitapur jail, waiting for the SP leader to walk out of prison.

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