Saina and Prannoy sealed Senior Nationals; Sindhu and Srikanth ousted

India’s no. 2 shuttler Saina defeats no. 1 Sindhu at the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championships in the women’s singles finals. While, HS Prannoy, who reached the career best ranking of 11, defeated world no. 2 Srikanth Kidambi in the men’s singles summit clash.

The two time Senior Nationals champion Saina, got better off Sindhu with her experience and made the hat-trick win; in the pulsating apex match, Sindhu beat Saina in the straight games with 21-17, 27-25 in the longest 55-minute contest. While, second seeded Prannoy saw off the top seed Srikanth Kidambi with 21-15, 16-21, 21-7 in the 49-minute fight of men’s singles finals.

Ashwini Ponnappa bagged the double crowns with N Sikki Reddy and Satwik Sai Raj in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles matches respectively. While in the men’s doubles, second seeds Manu Atri and B sumeeth Reddy rebounded in the second game after 3 match points. The duo defeated Satwik and Chirag Shetty with 15-21, 22-20, 25-23.

An enthusiasm upsurged when Sindhu and Saina made it to the finals and anticipation of the winner was an intricate task.

The girls shared initial 10 points in the first game before Saina started pushing the bird to the back alley and bodyline returns to lead at 10-7, followed by an advantage at the interval with 11-9. Later, Sindhu somehow managed to save 4 points but Saina kept breathing down her opponent’s neck and moved to a 17-12 lead. However, some unforced errors made Sindhu to lose points and allowed Saina to take the opener.

In the second game, it was Sindhu this time who grabbed the lead at 5-2, yet, Saina slowly built points and made Sindhu trailed. Saina made the score equal at 6-6, but Sindhu ensured she had advantage at the break with a lead of 11-8. World no. 2 Sindhu extended her lead to 14-10 and maintained it till 18-14. With her series of forced errors, Sindhu allowed Saina to tie at 18-18, before the shuttlers exchanged the leads with the long rallies. The shuttlers going down the wire and eventually the match was taken by Saina when Sindhu failed to receive the rally.

The men’s singles summit was thrilling as Srikanth and Prannoy displayed their assemblage of strokes during their fast-paced rallies. The duo previously played four times against each other in international tournaments but it was Srikanth who raised victory hands all the time. Way back in 2011, Prannoy defeated Srikanth at Tata Open and the scene is repeated at the  Senior Nationals.

Prannoy said, “It means a lot. It came at the right time for me. I have been playing this event. It is great that I could beat Srikanth in the final. I have been playing well before this tournament and hope to do well in future” as quoted by PTI.

With just the six months rapport with Satwik Sai Raj, Ashwini Ponnappa proved her prowess with the young partner by defeating the top seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy with 21-9, 20-22 in the mixed doubles. Later, Ashwini partnering with Sikki ousted Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant with 21-14, 21-14 to clinch the women’s doubles title.