Lucknow: Malaysia’s men’s doubles pair of Tan Wee Kiong/Goh V Shem was involved in a close men’s doubles final contest in Syed Modi Grand Prix finals as the Malaysian and Indian pair of Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar were engaged in energy-sapping rallies.
Goh/Tan were caught off guard by the speed and aggressiveness of the Indian pair in the first set by losing 21-14.
The two pairs were neck and neck in the second set, just when the Malaysian pair was about to see their hope of winning the Syed Modi title to go up in smoke when they were trailed 21-22 in the second set, Goh/Tan pulled themselves together and reeled off 3 consecutive points to win the second set 24-22.
The second set loss completely demoralized Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar, which saw Goh/Tan clinched the decider 21-8 to win their second ever Badminton World Federation title after they won the United States Grand Prix Gold title last December. Goh/Tan also took home US$9,400 (RM40, 420) for their victory.
In men’s singles final, it was no easy task for No. 1 seed Kidambi Srikanth either as he faced tough resistance from unseeded Chinese shuttler Huang Yuxiang.
Srikanth breezed through the first game easily with 21-13. However, the number one seed seemed to have lost his focus, squandered a 10-5 lead to go down 14-21 to Huang in the second set. After the score was tied at 13-13 in the decider, Srikanth made it a one-sided affair from there after winning six straight points to open up an 18-12 lead. Srikanth then went on to win the final three points without much fuss to wrap up his first ever Syed Modi GP title, after finished runners up in the previous two editions.
Meanwhile, second seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea needed an hour and 25 minutes to defeat Japan’s Sayaka Sato 12-21, 21-18, 21-18 in the women’s singles final to kick off her 2016 season on a resounding note.
Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto of Indonesia survived a scare from Thailand pair of Puavaranukroh Dechapol and Sapsiree Taerattanachai to notch up a 23-25, 21-9, 21-16 win in the mixed doubles final clash.
In women’s doubles final, South Korean second seeds Jung Kyung Eun and Shin Seung Chan thrashed third seeds Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of Netherlands 21-15, 21-13 to annex the title.
