Gayatri and Treesa retain Syed Modi International doubles title, Srikanth falls short

Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly retained their Syed Modi International women’s doubles title with a comeback win over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe in Lucknow. Kidambi Srikanth, however, lost a close men’s singles final to Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan

Hyderabad: Women’s doubles combination of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly retained their Syed Modi International badminton title in Lucknow on Sunday with a hard-fought win over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe, while Kidambi Srikanth went down in the men’s singles final.

In the women’s final, Gayatri and Treesa came back from a game down to beat Osawa and Tanabe 17-21, 21-13, 21-15 in an hour and 16 minutes to clinch the title. Srikanth, however, lost to Jason Gunawan 16-21, 21-8, 20-22 in the men’s singles final.

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Playing only their second tournament after a long injury lay-off for Gayatri, the Indian pair had reached the final without dropping a game. But in the summit clash, they needed time to get into rhythm from a slightly difficult end, which cost them the opening game.

After that, the top seeds controlled the match brilliantly to claim the title.

Later in the men’s singles final, Kidambi Srikanth came close to ending his over five-year wait for a BWF World Tour title against Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong.

After losing the opening game, the former world No 1 bounced back to win the second game easily. He looked in control even in the decider as he took a 14-11 lead, only for Gunawan to take the next six points.

Srikanth responded by winning four points on the trot to regain the lead, but Gunawan’s successful review at 19-19 gave him the first match point. Though the Indian saved that match point, he pushed the shuttle long on the second to finish runners-up.

Japan’s Hina Akechi bagged the women’s singles title, beating Neslihan Arin of Turkey 21-16, 21-14 in the final.

Thailand’s Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai won the mixed doubles title, while Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai were crowned the men’s doubles champions.