MyVoice: Views of our readers 13th July 2021

Dawn of a new era

Flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson pipped fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos in the space tourism race by blasting off in a Virgin Galactic spaceship on Sunday. Branson's maiden journey peaked at 85 km above the earth, where the two pilots and four passengers experienced five minutes of zero gravity and saw the earth's curvature before safely gliding back home. It was also a dream come true for Indian-born aeronautical engineer Sirisha Bandla who accompanied Branson on his flight. She joins Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams in the elite list of Indian-origin women to fly into space. The historic trip heralds a new dawn.

N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru

Samir's success story

Unlike cricket, the game of tennis is a tough game and the odds are even. Samir Banerjee, 17, despite a wobble, became the first India-American player to win a Grand Slam boys' singles title, beating compatriot Victor Lilov 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 21 minutes in the final at the Wimbledon championships on Sunday. Though Indian American players like Prakash Amritraj and his cousin Stephen Amritraj played on the circuit and won some titles too, Samir is the first to win the boys singles title at a Grand Slam. It is notable that four Indians – Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, Leander Paes and Yuki Bhambri — have won the boys' singles title at Grand Slam events. Even though Indian players could not make a worthwhile move in this year's Wimbledon, Samir's success is a consolation.

C K Subramaniam, Mumbai

Gruelling wait ends for Messi at last

It is heartening to note that Messi-led Argentina won the Copa America finals against Brazil by 1-0. The wait for 28 years is really a long period. However, Messi deserves the win for the efforts of a good teamwork. A word of praise for Harleen Deol for her excellent and sensational catch in the T20 women cricket match against England. Her efforts were really superb though India lost the match.

Gururajan Ramachandran, Chennai.

The Euro 2020 Final at Wembley gave us 120 minutes of football at its best with superb passes and headers and 10 penalty shootouts with 5 of them yielding goals, to boot. We were rewarded for forgoing our sleep to watch the match. It was worthy of a World Cup semi-final, if not the Final. It was a real cliffhanger before Italy lifted the Cup. Not that England played worse on home soil or Italy played better, it was sheer luck that smiled on Italy that crowned it the European champions.

G David Milton, Maruthancode (Kanyakumari dt)

Argentina put up a spirited display to end a 28-year title drought and reach the pinnacle of glory at the Copa America final. Angel di Maria did the star turn for the victors. Though the Selecao had more ball possession, they could not translate that into goals. However, the success would count as an extraordinary triumph for Argentinian skipper Lionel Messi - he led his country to its first major title since 1993 and lifted his first major trophy for the national team after several near misses. Well done, boys!

N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru

The month-long mesmerising football bonanza is over with Argentina kissing the Copa America 2021 and Italy the Euro Cup 2021 but the moments of these two tournaments will linger in the hearts of soccer fans around the world. The various nations, football federations and authorities need a big applause as the matches were conducted smoothly and safely especially at a time when the whole world is under the grip of an epidemic.

M Pradyu, Kannur

Do justice to CPSU pensioners

Apropos the 'Mega cabinet raises massive expectations from Modi' published in inbox (July 11), I like to add one more point. More than sixty lakh retirees from wound up central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) are denied their legitimate right for more than two decades. They are getting a static pension and without medical aid. Whenever Employee Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) case is taken up by some MPs in parliament, the stock reply is that, "the case is in Supreme Court," and the court is adjourning it every time. PM who is now holding the portfolio of pensions is once again urged to render justice. Apex court is also requested to dispose of this case which is listed for hearing on 20-07-2021.

Dr NSR Murthy, Secunderabad