Kidambi Srikanth won his second Superseries Premier title after defeating Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai 21-11, 21-19 at the Indonesia open in Jakarta today. With this win, Kidambi Srikanth also became the first Indian to win the title and the second-most successful Indian after Saina Nehwal in Superseries events.
Srikanth has now won three Superseries titles, while Saina has won ten Superseries titles so far. Notably, this was Srikanth’s second successive and fourth Superseries final overall. Previously, he had won the China Open in 2014 and India Open in 2015.
“My coach will have a special place in my heart as after he came, I reached the finals at Singapore and to win this tournament, which is considered the biggest tournament. I want to thank all the fans who have been rooting for me all this week,” said Kidambi Srikanth after the win.
After his win, Indians rejoiced and expressed their happiness on micro-blogging site Twitter. Here’s how they reacted:
Congrats #KidambiSrikanth ___ #IndonesiaOpen2017 pic.twitter.com/dMKhW4WYUF
— Fukkard (@Fukkard) June 18, 2017
Congratulations champion #KidambiSrikanth on a great win. You make all of India proud. #IndonesianOpen https://t.co/cTGWC9JkTM
— YS Chowdary (@yschowdary) June 18, 2017
Even though we remain transfixed watching #INDvPAK, let’s applaud #KidambiSrikanth. Done India proud winning #IndonesiaOPEN2017
— Sudheendra Kulkarni (@SudheenKulkarni) June 18, 2017
What a great day for #IndianBadminton; #SaiPraneeth, #KidambiSrikanth, #GayatriGopichand, #SamiyaFaroqui, #Kavipriya, #Meghna made us proud
— Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) April 16, 2017
Srikanth played a patient game and didn’t allow his opponent to engage in any fast-paced rally. He dictated the pace with his precise angled returns and unleashed his smashes at perfect intervals to down his rival.
Playing in tricky conditions, Srikanth took time to gauge the conditions as his initial returns went wide and out.
But his rival also suffered because of similar unforced errors and the Indian led 6-4 early on. He consolidated his lead to reach 11-8 at the break.
After the interval, Srikanth continued to dominate the proceedings. His net dribbles were better than Sakai and with Sakai struggling with precision, the Indian zoomed to a 19-11 lead and sealed it with two lucky net chord points.
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