What's the story?
Indian badminton reached a new high on Sunday after two players from the country contested for a Superseries title for the first time ever at the Singapore Open. World No. 30 B Sai Praneeth emerged the winner as he upset the former World No. 3 Srikanth Kidambi in a come-from-behind 17-21, 21-17, 21-12 victory.
This was his maiden Superseries crown as well as a major breakthrough for the 24-year-old, from whom bigger things were excepted ever since he won the World Junior Championships bronze in 2010. An elated Sai spoke to PTI afterwards about how long he had to wait for this moment of glory and also added his thoughts about the progress of Indian badminton.
“I have been waiting for this for a long long time. I think top two singles is a first time for India and it’s history and you can see Indian badminton is going up from this tournament,” said the Hyderabad-based player.
In case you didn't know...
This was the first time ever that Sai Praneeth reached the final of any Superseries tournament. His biggest international title prior to the Singapore Superseries was the Canadian Open Grand Prix which he won in 2016.
The heart of the matter
Sai did not have the best of starts to the Singapore Open final. He trailed his higher-accomplished compatriot Srikanth Kidambi 17-21, 1-6 before which he turned around the match. In a hard-fought second game, the two were even till 14-14 after which Sai used his variety of shotmaking to pull away. The decider was dominated by the World No. 30 who ran away to notch up his fifth win over Srikanth in six meetings.
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It proved that the 24-year-old is much better equipped now to last the distance in longer matches, something he, himself admitted later on. After reaching the Syed Modi International final in January, a shoulder injury kept him on the sidelines and he could not participate in the All England Championships and the Swiss Open.
He dedicated that break to training harder and improving his fitness, the result of which bore the fruit in Singapore.
What's next?
The Indian shuttlers will next be seen in action at the Badminton Asia Championships to be held in Wuhan, China from April 25-30.
Author's Take
Sai's victory is a credit to his great self-belief. Since winning the World Juniors medal, he was always touted as the next biggest thing in Indian badminton but all he could achieve in the following years is a solitary Grand Prix title and a few wins over the legends of the game.
The Indian badminton fraternity and fans will hope the Singapore Superseries win is a start of good things for him and he keeps on performing like this.
