Kidambi Srikanth continued with his good form after the 2016 Premier Badminton League in which he had represented Bengaluru TopGuns. Though his team couldn’t reach the semifinals of PBL, Srikanth was rated as the Most Valuable Player for the TopGuns. In the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold tournament, Srikanth had also reached the finals in 2014 and 2015 but failed to cross the last hurdle on both occasions. The Indian changed that in his third final appearance on Sunday by scoring a hard-fought 21-13, 14-21, 21-14 victory over Huang Yuxiang of China. Earlier on Saturday, Srikanth reached his third final by defeating Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 21-14, 21-7. In the final against Huang, Srikanth quickly raced to a big lead before winning the first game at 21-13. But the Chinese staged a comeback in the second game despite trailing 7-11 during the break. Suddenly Srikanth found the going tough as Huang reeled off 5 straight points to lead 12-11. Thereafter, the Indian was allowed only three more points as Huang forced the decider by winning the second game 21-14. The Chinese continued with his second game momentum and breezed past Srikanth to lead 8-4. Srikanth shifted gears at this juncture and started winning points. He took the next five to lead 9-8. However, Huang was not done yet. He changed the lead to 13-12 in his favor by taking the next five points. Once again, Srikanth brought the reversal with a renewed rhythm and scored 6 straight points for an 18-13 lead. The Chinese scored just one more point after that as Srikanth settled the match in his favor with a 21-14 victory in the final game.
Earlier in the men’s doubles final, the Indian team of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar won the first game and held two match points in the second against Malaysia’s Goh V Shem and Wee Kiong Tan. Just when an Indian victory looked imminent, Goh/Wee tilted the balance in their favor by forcing the decider and ultimately taking the championship by beating the Indians 14-21, 24-22, 21-8. Goh and Wee are the reigning Commonwealth Game gold medalist and with their victory, they have stretched their head-to-head record against the Indians to 3-0. In the closely contested mixed doubles final, Indonesian second seeds Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto defeated Thailand’s Puavaranukroh Dechapol and Sapsiree Taerattanachai 23-25, 21-9, 21-16. Women’s doubles title at Lucknow was won by the Korean pair of Jung Kyung Eun and Shin Seung Chan, who literally outplayed Netherlands’ Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek 21-15, 21-13.