Lucknow: Malaysia’s women’s doubles No. 3 seeds Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean gained sweet revenge over India’s No. 4 seeds Ashwini Ponnappa/Reddy N. Sikki in the final of 2018 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships on Sunday as Chow/Lee outlasted the Indian pair 21-15, 21-13 to win their first ever Badminton World Federation (BWF) world tour title.
The Malaysian pair suffered a painful loss at the hands of Ponnappa/Sikki in the second round of Asian Games individual event on August 2018, their second defeat against the Indian pair in three meetings before their match in the 2018 Syed Modi final.
Chow/Lee also progressed into the final of Russia Open final in July, but lost to Chisato Hoshi/Kie Nakanishi of Japan 11-21, 18-21.
In women’s singles, three time Syed Modi International champion Saina Nehwal started the final with an uncharacteristically ragged display in a straight-sets 18-21, 8-21 defeat to 19-year-old Han Yue of China.
Nevertheless, another Indian ace shuttler, No. 3 seed Sameer Verma was able to defend the men’s singles title and made up for the failure of Saina Nehwal by seeing off China’s No. 6 seed Lu Guan Zu 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 in a 70-minute thriller. With this win, Verma also successfully registered a spot for himself in the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals.
The men’s doubles No. 2 seeds Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia were able to come back from 3-8, 14-18 in the second set to eventually overcame local shuttlers and No. 8 seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty 21-11, 22-20 to win the only title for Indonesia in the Syed Modi finals.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s No. 4 seeds Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari were no match for unseeded Ou Xuanyi/Feng Xueying of China, losing to the Chinese pair 20-22, 10-21 in the mixed doubles final.
