International
hyderabad hunters

Sai Praneeth clinches Singapore Open Superseries 2017

By: Gobadminton desk
Date: 20 Feb, 2017
Image Courtesy: hyderabad hunters

Propitious shuttler, B. Sai Praneeth knocked down Kidambi Srikanth at Singapore Open Super Series finals in April. “It's always difficult to play someone with whom you play every day. I am very happy to win today. The way I played in the tournament, I'm very happy. The support here for the Indians has also been very nice,” said the newly crowned Praneeth after 54-minute match. Praneeth outplayed Srikanth by 17-21, 21-17, 21-12.


The match was first ever in the badminton history, where in, both the opponents in the finals happened to be Indians and trainees under the same roof at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. Both the players must be keenly aware of each other’s mindset as they know each other well.


In the first game, Srikanth used his angled shots. As the game is progressing, he secured the points with the smashes. He took advantage of forehand shots by Praneeth. Both the players didn’t go for long shots. It was Srikanth to be in lead at 11-7 break. Despite long stretch dives, Praneeth couldn’t save points. It was Praneeth’s show as well, since he made Srikanth to run and stifle along the court till 14-15. Srikanth took away the game after 5 game point chances by 17-21.


In the second game, initially it was Srikanth again till 4-1 lead. Praneeth bounced back to level the score at 7-7. Praneeth caught hold of his spirit till he could maintain the scoreline by 10-10. Before the break, Srikanth gave away the point to the opponent by hitting wide. Srikanth made the service error and this gave chance to Praneeth to have game point at 20-17. He had big sigh of relief when his opponent hit wide and the game was taken by Praneeth by 21-17 giving away the next match to the decider.


In the decider game, Praneeth was maintaining his lead by 11-5 scoreline. Praneeth didn’t give up with his style. He was either sticking to sharp shots or net plays till he saved the points by 20-12. It was again the wide shot by Srikanth that gave away the match point to Praneeth.


It was a win to celebrate for him as this is his first win in Super Series and this win enabled him to participate him in World Championship. He was the Junior Commonwealth 2010 Bronze medalist. It is not his first outwit game as he already won over star players such as former All England Champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia, former Olympic and World champion Taufik Hidayat and World No.1 Lee Chong Wei.


Though their coach Gopichand could attend the match, he felt very content as his dreams blended to reality. His dream to see men to be rising like women in the badminton world has come true.


Here is how twitterati reacted on this phenomenal victory 


Share this post with your friends

Visitors Guru
Most Viewed
Stay Connected

Google +

Follow Us

Instagram

Follow Us