Barbora Krejcikova HYDERABAD  SUNDAY  JULY 14, 2024  `12.00  PAGES 24  LATE CITY EDITION Second Slam for Barbora Barbora Krejcikova delighted the Wimbledon crowd with an emphatic win on Saturday. A glance at her feat and Sunday’s big finals... MESSI SEEKING FINAL GLORY Having won the Copa America and World Cup titles for Argentina in the last few years, Lionel Messi has a chance to win another Copa against Colombia, possibly his last major trophy for the country. CAN ENGLAND END TROPHY DROUGHT? For 58 years, England men have faced nothing but heartbreaks at the global stage. WC to WC, Euro to Euro, the story has continued. They came close in the 2021 Euros, and on Sunday, the Three Lions will be up against a formidable Spain side. Can they? Could be a tasty contest. KREJCIKOVA HANDS PAOLINI HEARTBREAK Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic defeated Italy’s Jasmine Paolini to win the Wimbledon women’s title for her second Grand Slam singles triumph. Krejcikova, the 31st seed, won 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to add the 2024 All England Club crown to her 2021 French Open victory. DJOKOVIC ON BRINK Sunday could be huge for Novak Djokovic. The Serb has the chance to take his Major title count to 25, which will be an all-time high (men & women). 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 Two hours away from Paris, a German city apes Olympic host; attracts India’s finest I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai Trinamool Congress supporters celebrate after party candidate Madhuparna Thakur won the Bagda assembly by-election, in North 24 Parganas on Saturday | PTI Oppn picks up 10 of 13 bypoll seats, keeps momentum P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi IN a major boost to the Opposition in the first bypolls after the general elections, the INDIA bloc gained an upper hand over the NDA by winning 10 out of 13 assembly seats that were up for grabs across seven states. While the BJP managed to secure one seat each in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, an Independent candidate wrested Bihar’s Rupauli seat. The bypoll results were keenly watched as they are expected to set the tone for the upcoming elections to four states — J&K, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand — scheduled for later this year. Coming on the heels of the Lok Sabha elections, the results are a setback to the BJP, which failed to secure a majority of its own to form the government at the Centre. While the Congress and the Trinamool Congress secured four seats each, the AAP and the DMK picked up one each. The bypolls were held on Wednesday in four seats in West Beng al, three in Himachal Pradesh, two in Uttarakhand, and one each in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. In a direct contest with the BJP in West Bengal, the TMC swept all four seats. The contest was crucial for both the parties as three of the seats fell vacant after BJP MLAs jumped ship to TMC. The fourth seat became vacant after the death of the sitting TMC MLA. Stakes were high in Himachal Pradesh for both the Congress and the BJP in the election to the three seats — Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh. While the Congress won both Dehra and Nalagarh, the BJP pocketed Hamirpur. The election was necessitated after three Independent MLAs joined the BJP. In Dehra, Congress’s Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu won against the BJP’s Hoshiyar Singh, who had switched sides earlier. Dealing a blow to the BJP in Uttarakhand, the Congress won both Badrinath and Manglaur. In Tamil Nadu, DMK nominee Anniyur Siva emerged victorious in Vikravandi, defeating — PMK’s candidate Anbumani C. Prahari Clubs soon to prevent drug abuse in high schools A A R T I K A S H YA P @ Hyderabad All government and private high schools in the state will soon have Prahari Clubs to curb drug menace. The state government in a GO dated July 12 has permitted the director of school education to constitute Prahari Clubs in all high schools and offered a framework to wean away children from drug abuse and curb sale of any substances in surrounding areas of schools and child care institutions through convergent actions in a time-bound manner. The government said that it will also adopt strategic interventions to prevent the availability of pharmaceutical drugs, substances and Ibrahimpatnam police interacting with the public as part of efforts to create awareness on drugs and crime | VINAY MADAPU other forms of goods used as intoxicants by the children. The order was issued in response to a report submitted by the commissioner of school education highlighting the increasing cobweb of drug sale and abuse CONTINUED ON P5 in schools. PARIS: 48.86°N latitude; Saarbrucken: 49.23° N. They are in the same time zone, too. Paris is just about 1hr 48 minutes away from Saarbrucken on high speed train. Proximity to Paris, similar weather conditions and its setting has turned the cultural German city into an ideal destination for Paris-bound athletes to train ahead of the Olympics starting from July 26. The sprawling Sportcampus Saar, (as it is called) is spread over nine hectares with landscaping and greenery More than the salubrious . settings, it’s the training facilities that have attracted athletes from all over the world. There are about 400 athletes from 27 countries and five continents housed at the Saar campus right now. Among them are a bunch of Indians — double Olympic The sprawling Sportcampus, Saar, is hosting around 400 athletes right now medallist PV Sindhu, Olym- ances of his facilities and what pic champion Neeraj Chopra they have managed to provide (was training until July 7), for Indians. Kopkow felt the the table tennis and the unique positioning of the boxing teams (both city has added to its demen and women) along Sunday mand. “It’s just 1hr 48 with coaches and supaway from Paris. Special minthe same time and port staff. It’s The chief operating climate zones. Though and marketing officer it’s quite rainy right now, (COO and CMO) of Sportcam- which is pretty much uncompus, Saar, Johannes Kopkow, mon this time, it’s still the during a virtual interaction same weather like Paris. It’s with this daily outlined the nu- the Central European Time or , PARTY - HOPPING Another MLA joins Cong leaving BRS leadership gasping EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy unveiling the logo of global AI summit at HICC in Hyderabad on Saturday EXPRESS READ Polls loom, J&K LG gets more powers New Delhi: Ahead of the assembly elections in J&K, the Centre empowered the Lieutenant Governor in all matters of transfers and postings of all-India service officers and the police besides granting powers to accord prosecution sanction in various cases. | P7 JOB CALENDAR TO GET STATUTORY STATUS CM Revanth has announced that his government will soon unveil the promised job calendar and give it statutory status | P4 INVENTORISATION, CONSERVATION 46 years on, Puri Ratna Bhandar to be opened today D I A N A S A H U @ Bhubaneswar AFTER a gap of 46 years, the inner chamber (Bhitar Bhandar) of Shri Jagannath temple’s Ratna Bhandar (gemstone treasury) at Puri will be opened on Sunday for inventorisation and conservation. The state government provided the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the process to the temple administration on Saturday evening. Speaking to this newspaper, retired Orissa High Court judge Biswanath Rath, who chairs the panel to supervise inventorisation and conservation of the treasury, said the SOP is for opening the Ratna Bhandar, shifting the ornaments and precious jewels to a designated room inside the temple and assessing the treasury’s structural condition. A separate SOP for inventory of the valuables will be released later. At 10 am on Sunday, the high level panel led by Justice Rath, the temple managing committee and officials of the Archaeological Survey of India will meet to decide on the time and the number of people who will enter the treasury They would most . likely enter after 1 pm, he said. A medical team will be stationed inside the sanctum sanctorum in case of any emergency Similarly, . a snake helpline team will be put on standby . “Only two persons from the high level panel, a team of the temple administration and managing committee, ASI officials and temple servitors who are in-charge of the Ratna Bhandar will enter the treasury in addition to the Collector and ADM,” he said. L aw m i n i s t e r P r i t h v i r a j Harichandan said the keys to the WITH THIS ISSUE THE CANADA CATASTROPHE PLUS 12 PAGES Hyd to host global AI summit on Sept 5, 6 I R E D D Y S R I N I V A S R E D D Y @ Hyderabad WITH each passing day, the main Opposition BRS is weakening even as the ruling Congress strengthens its position in the Assembly. On Saturday, Arikepudi Gandhi, the BRS MLA from Serilingampally, joined the Congress in the presence of Chief Minister and TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy at his residence. With Gandhi’s defection, the Congress strength in the Assembly has now shot up to 75, which includes 65 MLAs elected on the party’s ticket, one CPI member, and nine migrants from the BRS. To affect a merger of the BRS Legislature Party (BRSLP), the Congress needs to induct 17 more MLAs, which appears to be a challenging task at the moment. However, party insiders say that discussions with several BRS MLAs are on and may fructify These . discussions are managed by an adviser and two ministers on behalf of the Congress. Meanwhile, a debate has emerged among BRS MLAs following advice from two key party leaders. They suggested that legislators wishing to leave the BRS should join the BJP rather than the Congress. This suggestion has intrigued the party setup. These leaders have also reportedly discussed with two BJP leaders about welcoming BRS MLAs into the BJP, promising them Cabinet posts if the BJP comes to power in the next Assembly elections and contracts in BJP-ruled states. Key BRS leaders urged MLAs not to merge the BRSLP with the Congress, arguing that the ruling party is a “dead end.” However, the MLAs have reportedly disregarded this advice outright. A senior MLA, who discussed the advice with senior Congress leaders, expressed unwillingness to face a byelection, which could be avoided through a merger with the Congress. He reportedly told Congress leaders that there is a slim chance of winning any byelections within a year of being elected to CONTINUED ON P4 the Assembly . the Middle (Central) European Climate Zone. This makes it easier for athletes coming from a long distance to acclimatise,” said Kopkow. Neeraj has been one of the first few high-profile visitors when he trained there in 2022. “He always needs more than one room because he has a German coach, a physio and also a manager. He has his own apartment in our house of the athletes, so that he can always step in and out as he would want.” He also narrated a funny incident involving Sindhu. “She has a tent (tent-like structure) in her room where she sleeps. That tent has low air pressure (hypoxic chamber). One day we found the bed outside her room and asked what happened and she told us the story It was funny She brought . . the chamber and the bed was outside and we’re thinking what happened!” And for the boxers, the centre has provided a separate kitchen where they can cook Indian food and also a separate area to eat. P11 Ratna Bhandar will be handed over to the team on Sunday. “Efforts will be made to open the locks with the available keys but if that does not happen, the locks will be broken in the presence of the magistrate,” Harichandan said. As for the inventory of the valuables, it will be done in a transparent manner in presence of experts and officials of the Reserve Bank of India. “Every piece of jewellery , its weight and caratage will be documented, photographed and digitised. The entire process of inventory will be fully documented,” Harichandan added. UNVEILING the logo of the Global AI Summit in Hyderabad, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday announced that the event will take place at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) on September 5 and 6. “The Global AI Summit represents our commitment to positioning our state at the forefront of technological innovation. We eagerly welcome thought leaders and innovators from around the world to Hyderabad,” he said. The event will feature over 50 speakers, including at least 2,000 delegates representing various sectors such as industry, academia, startups, government and foundations, a release said. With the theme “making AI work for everyone,” the summit will aim to explore how AI can benefit and empower society The event will have sessions . by global AI experts, tech industry leaders, policymakers and academicians. CONTINUED ON P5