LUCKNOW, Nov 29:
Former champion Kidambi Srikanth and defending women’s doubles winners Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand notched up contrasting wins to progress to the men’s and women’s doubles finals of the Syed Modi International badminton tournament here on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Srikanth, who lifted the title in 2016, staved off a spirited challenge from compatriot and 2023 national champion Mithun Manjunath to prevail 21-15 19-21 21-13 in a pulsating last-four clash.
“It was important to get a good start and keep my mistakes low. He always plays well against me, so happy with my performance,” Srikanth said.
A 2021 World Championships silver medallist, Srikanth, who had earlier reached the final of the Malaysia Masters this season, now will face Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan in the summit clash.
Moments before Srikanth’s victory, world No.14 Treesa and Gayatri displayed sharp tactical awareness and excellent control of the conditions to record a commanding 21-11 21-15 win over Malaysia’s world No.33 Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting in the women’s doubles semifinals.
The Indian pair, playing only their second event since Gayatri’s return from a five-month shoulder injury layoff, will face Japan’s eighth seeds Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe in Sunday’s final as they seek to defend their crown.
“It is really good to be back after a long time and we are defending champions, so really happy to be playing finals tomorrow,” Gayatri said.
“The whole match was in our control. We are playing the Japanese pair, it won’t be easy. We have to be patient,” Treesa added.
However, India’s women’s singles campaign came to an end in the semifinals, with both Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma suffering straight-game defeats.
Unnati went down 15-21 10-21 to Turkey’s Neslihan Arin, while Tanvi, who had stunned former world champion Nozomi Okuhara earlier in the event, lost 17-21 16-21 to Japan’s Hina Akechi.
Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Treesa bowed out with a 17-21 19-21 loss to Indonesia’s Dejan Ferdinansyah and Bernadine Anindya Wardana. (PTI)
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