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Fourth seeded Lakshya Sen produced a gritty display in the final to successfully defend his title at the India International Series tournament held at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad on Saturday as Indian shuttlers finished with a rich haul of three titles.
The 16-year-old Sen rebounded from a second-game loss to clinch a 21-15, 17-21, 21-17 win over Malaysia’s 173rd ranked Yee Han Chong in 57 minutes.
This is the former junior World No. 1’s third international title at the senior level. His first was right here at the India International 12 months ago and he then followed it up with the Bulgarian Open in August.
The only time the World No. 110 was stretched to the decider prior to the final was in the quarter-finals where Kiran George put him to a stern test before Sen emerged a 21-13, 11-21, 21-16 winner.
Also read: India International: Lakshya Sen upsets top seed to reach the final
Giant-killer Tanishq wins in women’s singles
16-year-old Tanishq Mamilla Palli held her nerves to win a gruelling final match against 19-year-old Shikha Gautam. Palli lost the first game and then showed her steely determination to hold off her older opponent before closing out the marathon 17-21, 22-20, 21-18 win in 1 hour 5 minutes.
Palli had accounted for the second seed Chua Hui Zhen Grace in the semi-finals and the sixth seeded Mugdha Agrey a round before that.
George and Shukla reign supreme in men’s doubles
The third seeded men’s doubles combine of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla won the last final of the day. They held off the eighth seeds Nandagopal Kidambi and Francis Alwin in the first game and then stamped their authority in the second game to complete the 21-19, 21-15 win.
The women’s doubles and the mixed doubles categories were the only ones in which India could not taste any glory. In mixed, the fifth seeds Tang Jie Chen and Liu Ying Goh of Malaysia dashed the hopes of the eighth seeded Indian pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg with a 21-19, 21-13 victory.
The women’s doubles saw a rare final between two non-Indian teams. Second seeds Putri Sari Dewi Citra and Yujia Jin dropped the first game but stormed back for a thrilling 20-22, 21-9, 21-13 win over Jee Lynn Lim and Zhen Yap of Malaysia.
