Feature
US Open: Paes, Bopanna beaten in men’s doubles
New York: Veteran Indian star Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the men’s doubles competition after losing their respective matches at the US Open tennis tournament.
The Indo-German pair of Paes and Andre Begemann gave a tough fight before going down 6-2, 5-7, 4-6 in one hour and 59 minutes in the first round against Stephane Robert of France and Dudi Sela of Israel here on Friday.
Next, Indo-Danish pair of Rohan Bopanna and Frederik Nielsen went down against American Brian Baker and New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell 2-6, 6-7 (5).
Bopanna-Nielsen relinquished grip on the first in just 30 minutes at Court 6. Baker-Daniell converted two of the four break points received to comfortably pocket the first set.
They maintained their ascendancy in the second set too another quick break of serve to jump to a 4-2 lead.
Baker-Daniell served for the match at 5-3 but were broke by some dogged play from Bopanna-Nielsen to square it 5-5.
The Indo-Danish pair forced the set to a tiebreaker where they got a 3-0 lead but could not sustain the advantage to lose it 5-7, thereby surrendering the match in an hour and 14 minutes.
The victors against Paes-Begemann, Robert and Sela will now take on Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Alexander Peya of Austria in the second round.
The 12th seeded Polish-Austrian team defeated Americans Eric Quigley and Nicolas Meister 7-6, 6-1 in their opening round encounter.
Paes and Begemann enjoyed a superb start, breaking their opponents in the very first game to gain the early advantage.
They broke their opponents again in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead and then held their serve to take the set.
The Indo-German combination grabbed the early initiative in the second set as well, forcing a break of serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead.
The set then went with the serve which saw Paes and Begemann on the verge of taking the set with a 5-4 lead.
Robert and Sela, however, staged a spirited comeback to earn a break of serve and level the scores at 5-5. They then held their serve before forcing another break to take the set and draw level.
In the third set, Paes and Begermann again earned a break in the opening game to take the early lead. Both teams held their serve thereafter before Robert and Sela broke their Indo-German opponents in the eighth game.
They held their serve in the next game to take the lead at 5-4 before another break of serve in the 10th game handed them the set and the match.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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