London, July 5:
Petra Kvitova stormed to her second Wimbledon title in the shortest women’s final since 1983 as the Czech sixth seed crushed Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 on Saturday.
Kvitova, who first won Wimbledon in 2011, took just 55 minutes to end her three-year wait for a second Grand Slam crown, leaving shell-shocked world number 13 Bouchard helpless to repel a brutal barrage of 28 winners and four aces on Centre Court.
Playing in her first Grand Slam final since her maiden triumph at Wimbledon, the 24-year-old Kvitova produced a brilliant display of power-hitting to secure the 12th career title.
Fittingly, Kvitova’s breathtaking performance came in front of her childhood hero Martina Navratilova, whose 54-minute win against Andrea Jaeger 31 years ago was the last Wimbledon final to take less time than this ruthless demolition.
“I had great tactics from my coach, he always knows how I need to play,” Kvitova said. “All my team helped me a lot throughout the years to come back here and win the trophy again.
“I can’t say it’s more special but after three years to be back here with the trophy is so special.”
After struggling to cope with the fame and increased expectations that came with her first Wimbledon triumph, Kvitova has finally recaptured the thrilling form that brought her that breakthrough success.
The left-hander dropped just one set in her seven matches en route to lifting the Venus Rosewater dish for the second time and will rise to fourth in the world rankings next week.
While Kvitova celebrated, Bouchard, the youngest finalist at a major since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, was left to lick her wounds after a chastening defeat in her first Grand Slam final.
The photogenic and fiercely competitive Bouchard, named after Princess Eugenie by her royalty-obsessed mother, has been widely compared to Maria Sharapova and this was supposed to be her coronation as the queen of Wimbledon. (Agencies)
Quick-fire Kvitova crushes Bouchard to win Wimbledon title
Nurses retun home, joy erupts among family members
KOCHI, July 5: Forty-six nurses, who were held captive by ISIS militants in Iraq, today returned home by a special Air India flight to a happy reunion with their families here, bringing to an end their about month-long ordeal.
The special aircraft, which also had on board about 137 others, touched down the tarmac at the Kochi International Airport at 11.57 AM, a senior airport official said.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy whose coordinated effort with the Union Government that ensured liberty to nurses from his state, besides another who hails from Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu received them at the airport.
Family members of nurses, on whose face a sigh of relief was writ large had assembled in large numbers to see their beloved ones return and were joined by political leaders from BJP and Congress at the airport.
The ordeal of the nurses, who were working at a hospital in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, began when ISIS (Islamic State for Iraq and Syria) militants launched an offensive in that region on June nine.
Even as Indian authorities continued to maintain constant touch with their counterparts at Iraq for safe release of nurses, they were moved out on Thursday against their will and detained in the militant-held city of Mosul.
Efforts by External Affairs Ministry led to setting free the nurses held in captivity and they were transported in buses to Erbil International airport yesterday.
The Special Flight that left Erbil in the early hours of today arrived at Mumbai for a brief stop over for refuelling and catering supplies.
Besides the nurses, the flight also carried 137 other Indian nationals, including 70 from Kirkuk in the northern part of Iraq, 23 crew members and three government officials, including a joint-secretary level IFS officer and an IAS woman officer from Kerala.
Chandy thanked the Centre, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Indian Embassy in Iraq and MEA for ensuring the return of nurses from strife-hit Iraq.
“The Centre has acted in complete understanding of the deep anxieties of Kerala. The Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Iraq have made sincere efforts in securing release of the nurses,” Chandy told reporters here.
Kerala Government has made arrangements to enable nurses to reach their respective destinations across the state. (PTI)
Class 10th student electrocuted
Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, July 5: A teenaged boy was electrocuted when he came in contact with a live wire, which was lying in a field of maze crop at Kandi in Kotranka.
The deceased was identified as Liaqat Ali, son of Manzoor Hussain of Kandi. He was a student of class 10th and had gone to fields where a live wire had fallen from one end of a pole.
The boy reportedly died on the spot even as some local shifted him to hospital where doctors declared him as brought dead.
CCI team visits Kanak Mandi, takes stock of traders’ grievances
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 5: The team of newly elected office bearers of Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) headed by president, Rakesh Gupta today visited Kanak Mandi area, interacted with members of business community and took stock of their grievances.
Accompanied by Sham Lal Langer, senior vice-president, Deepak Aggarwal, junior vice-president, Arun Gupta, secretary general and Rahul Mahajan, secretary, the new CCI president visited Kanak Mandi area, where a rousing reception was accorded to the team by the Kanak Mandi Traders Association and the prominent businessmen of the area.
President, Kanak Mandi Traders Association, Vijay Gupta, apprised the new CCI president of various major issues confronting the traders of the area which include irregular power supply, traffic congestion and parking problems besides provision of space for wholesale market and speeding up of work on Gandola Project.
While speaking on the occasion, the CCI president assured the Kanak Mandi traders that all possible steps would be taken to mitigate their problems and sufferings.
Prominent office bearers of Kanak Mandi Traders’ Association present on the occasion were Jatinder Aggarwal and Anil Gupta, vice-presidents, Anoop Mittal, general secretary, Prithvi Raj Gupta, Yash Pal Gupta, Om Parkash Kaillo, Raj Kumar Gupta, Raghubir Gupta, Ashok Sharma and Sumti Parkash Jain.
Mangaonkar goes down fighting to Pak rival in semis
Mumbai, July 5:
The Indian challenge in the USD 25,000 CCI-PSA International Squash Championship came to an end here today when Mahesh Mangaonkar went down fighting to Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal in the semi finals.
Mangaonkar, the world no. 75, who had upset second seed and former world no. 7 Ong Beng Hee yesterday in the quarters, could not do an encore against the Asian senior champion and Pak no. 1 Iqbal and went down in four games at the Cricket Club of India’s glass-backed courts.
Iqbal won 11-8 11-8 11-13 12-10 in a protracted battle to earn a meeting in tomorrow’s final with Egypt’s impressive qualifier and former world junior champion Ali Farag who ousted compatriot Zahed Mohamed in the other semi final.
Farag, who shocked top seed Saurav Ghosal of India in the opening round and then packed off eighth seed Kristian Frost Olesen of Denmark in the quarter-finals, continued his impressive run to upset sixth seed Mohamed 11-7 15-13 10-12 11-6 after a 56-minute battle. (PTI)
Criminal arrested under PSA
Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, July 5: Samba Police today arrested one criminal under Public Safety Act (PSA).
According to SSP Samba, Anil Magotra a team of Bari Brahmana Police led by SHO Bari Brahmana Police Station, Inspector Shiv Dev Singh today arrested Bashir Ahmed alias Haji Basheer, son of Hashim Din of Sukhaini Talab Samilpur Badi Brahmana in Samba district presently at Digiana who was involved in criminal and land grabbing activities.
The SSP said several FIRs in various police stations were registered against him. Mr Magotra said the Police has also received many complaints against him and keeping all this in view he constituted a special team under his supervision consisting of CPO Samba, SDPO Badi Brahmana and SHO Badi Brahmana to prepare his dossier.
He said his warrant under PSA 1978 vide detention warrant No 6/PSA of 2014 was issued by D C Samba R K Varma. The police after raiding at his various hideouts today arrested him.
Akhilesh launches scheme to make offices paperless
LUCKNOW, July 5:
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today launched a scheme to make secretariat offices “paperless” by obtaining his digital signature.
“It is an important step aimed at not only increasing efficiency and bring transparency in working of departments, but also to turn the concept of green governance into reality,” an official release issued here said.
With taking a decision to make IT and Electronics department paperless in the first phase, the Chief Minister obtained his digital signature and approved a departmental file using the same, it said.
Using the e-office application developed by NIC, Yadav directed all divisional commissioners and district magistrates that hurdle should not be faced by the people and students in obtaining various Government services like certificates.
The Chief Minister said the Government was committed for providing services and information to the people near their doorsteps through electronic delivery system, it said.
After making functioning of the Secretariat paperless, the disposal of files would be quick and it could be tracked immediately, Yadav said. (PTI)
Nearly 600 Indian nationals to come back from Iraq by Monday
NEW DELHI, July 5:
Nearly 600 Indian nationals will come back from conflict-hit Iraq over the next two days of whom 200 will return by an Iraqi Airways special chartered flight from Najaf to Delhi tonight, External Affairs Ministry said today.
“The return of Indians from Iraq has gathered pace,” the Spokesperson in External Affairs Minister said, adding apart from 200 Indian nationals, another 400 Indian nationals would be returning to various destinations in India, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, through commercial flights by Monday.
“It is estimated that about 1200 would have returned to India at Government cost by Monday,” the Spokesperson said.
In addition, the Indian Mission in Baghdad has been able to persuade Iraqi companies to send back approximately 600 other Indian nationals.
“Our Mission in Baghdad is also separately processing papers of approximately 400 other persons who are in some major companies. Once these are processed, the total number of Indians who would have returned to India in the last fortnight would be about 2200,” he said.
“The number of others who have evinced interest in returning after this is very few,” he added.
Meanwhile, with 46 nurses out of the conflict zone, nearly 50 Indians are still expected to be in these zones, which include the 39 captives.
There were about 10,000 Indians before the start of the serious strife between Government troops and Sunni militants backed by al Qaida in Iraq. With MEA facilitating the departures, it is estimated that there are about 7500 Indians in the non-conflict zones left. (PTI)
NGO Police Personnel discuss demands
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 5: A meeting of All J&K Retired NGO Police Personnel was held under the chairmanship of S Ajeet Singh wherein to discuss their demands, today.
During the meeting it was decided the DGP, J&K will be requested to take up the matter regarding enhancement of Medical Allowance from Rs 300 to 1000 as per Six Pay Commission, removal of pay anomalies of constables and ASI will be taken up with the Government as per SRO-14, to direct all the Medical Superintendents of Police hospital to provide the life saving medicines to the needy police personnel from the hospital, at least 15% quota will be given to the police personnel in requirement in Police Department.
It was also decided to constitute a committee at PHQ to frame policy to adjust the retirees after their retirement in public/private sectors, to be given one rank one pension, respect all the retirees as when they visit to the office of SSP or SHOs.
Other allied demands were also discussed and asked for its early enactment.
Huge Indian package for Nepal during Modi’s visit likely
KATHMANDU, July 5:
India is expected to announce a major economic assistance package for Nepal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to the country.
India’s Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae today met Nepal’s Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat when the matters related to the visit were discussed.
“India is likely to announce a huge economic package during the proposed visit of Modi,” Ambassador Rae was quoted as saying in a statement issued by Nepal’s Finance Ministry.
During the meeting Mahat sought increased assistance from India in the development of hydropower projects, Kathmandu- Terai Fast Track road, Postal Highway, Mahakali Bridge and a cricket academy, said the statement.
Ambassador Rae sought pre-information about the assistance Nepal is seeking from India, it added.
The dates for Modi’s proposed visit are yet to be announced, but media reports here said he was likely to visit Nepal in early August.
The Finance Ministry said Indian companies were willing to sign power development agreements with Nepal to generate hydropower.
Indian companies such as GMR Consortium and Sutlej Jalavidyut Nigam are ready to move forward once the agreement is signed, it said.
GMR is developing the 900-MW Upper Karnali Hydro Power project and 600-MW Upper Marsyangdi–2 Project, while Sutlej is developing Arun Third with a capacity of 900 MW.
Meanwhile, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu on a three-day visit to prepare ground for Prime Minister Modi’s visit.
Swaraj’s Nepal trip would be her maiden visit after assuming the office. She will lead the Indian delegation at the Third Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting to be held on July 26-27 in Kathmandu.
Established in 1987 the Joint Commission is a bilateral mechanism to oversee the entire gamut of Nepal-India relations and provide directives on measures to further strengthen these relations.
During the visit Swaraj will call on President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Chairman of the Constituent Assembly and will also meet political leaders including the leader of the opposition in the Parliament. (PTI)