Sindhu, Srikanth crowned national champions

K Srikanth and P V Sindhu registered comfortably victories to lift the men’s and women’s singles titles in the 78^th ATS Senior National Badminton championship at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Monday.

Thailand Grand Prix Gold winner Srikanth saved a game point in the second game to over the challenge of second seed RMV Guru Sai Dutt 21-13, 22-20 in 40 minutes to lift the Vikas Topiwala Challenge Cup.

Earlier, world championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu ended the dream run of giant killer Rituparna Das 21-11, 21-17 to reclaim the Olympian Badminton Challenge Cup for the second time in three years.

Sindhu was the runaway favourite to lift the women’s singles title and the world number 11 was always in control throughout the 30 minute encounter.

The men’s singles final was a lot closer encounter. Both players began on a cautious note and it was Srikanth who put the foot on the accelerator first. He opened up a five point lead at the first break and then just built on the advantage to draw first blood.

It looked like the second game was also going into the same direction when Srikanth opened six point lead at 14-8. But Guru wasn’t ready to give up tamely and slowly clawed back by prolonging rallies and making his opponent to work harder.

However, it could not force the match into a decider as Srikanth raised his game to clinch three straight points and carve his name on the national title.

“I can’t express my feelings now. I dreamt about winning the national crown ever since I started playing badminton. For me this is just a start of my career and I aim to win many more titles in the future,” Srikanth said after the finals.

Results:

Women’s singles: 2-PV Sindhu (PSPB) bt 15-Rituparna Das (AP) 21-11, 21-17

Men’s singles: 5-K Srikanth (PSPB) bt 2-RMV Guru Sai Dutt (PSPB) 21-13, 22-20

Women’s doubles: 2-Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa (PSPB) bt 1-Pradnya Gadre/N Sikki Reddy (AAI) 21-17, 21-16

Men’s doubles: 1-Pranaav Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar (PSPB/AI) bt 2-Manu Atri/B Sumeet Reddy (AAI/AP) 21-19, 21-17

Mixed Doubles: 2-Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan (PSPB) bt 1-K Tarun/Ashiwini Ponnappa (PSPB) 21-10, 21-17