Paes conferred Padma Bhushan
New Delhi: Ace tennis player Leander Paes was conferred India’s third highest civilian honour – the Padma Bhushan – by President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Saturday. Paes was ecstatic at receiving the award and posted several photos on Twitter. He put up two photographs before the ceremony with his parents – Vece and Jennifer – outside Rashtrapati Bhavan and later on a photo with him sitting and posing with the open scroll and the medallion on his chest. “Padma Bhushan…Thanks for the years of support everyone!!! The rest is still unwritten…Jai Hind! Padma Bhushan Ceremony,Rashtrapati Bhavan! Nothing like family by my side. I miss my baby, Aiyana… Pre Padma Bhushan Ceremony…29 years of my journey. A proud moment.I miss my motivation & inspiration,my baby Aiyana,” tweeted Paes. The president presented 56 awards including one Padma Vibhushan, 11 Padma Bhushans and 44 Padma Shris. (IANS)
Sindhu, Jwala-Ashwini settle for bronze
Gimcheon (South Korea): India’s teen sensation PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had to settle for bronze medals after losing their respective semifinals matches in the Asian Badminton Championship here on Saturday. The 18-year-old Sindhu fought hard for one hour and 18 minutes before losing to the two-time reigning All England champion Shixian 21-15, 20-22, 12-21 in the women’s singles competition. In women’s doubles, Jwala and Ashwini failed to breach the defence of Luo Yu and Luo Ying, and suffered a 12-21, 7-21 loss to the world number 10 Chinese pair here. Sindhu had beaten Shixian thrice in the past but the world number two Chinese had the last laugh in the last two occasions. The Hyderabadi initially played a perfect game. She was attacking and didn’t have much trouble to keep Shixian away but the Chinese bounced back in the second game as she defended well and slowed down the pace, as the game went down to the wires. “Overall, Sindhu played well. It was an extremely close and long match. She was up 20-18 but she lost two points while serving. You need a bit of luck in such close matches. Its okay, at the end of the day, you will win some and lose some. I am happy with the way she is playing,” National Coach Pullela Gopichand said. (PTI)
