Saina, Srikanth, Kashyap reach finals at Syed Modi Grand Prix

Lucknow: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap reached the finals in their respective categories, while women’s World No.9 P.V. Sindhu faltered in the semi-final of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Masters at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium here Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_2062777” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Saina Nehwal is one victory away from defending her title. PTI[/caption] Top seed and World No.3 Saina took 40 minutes to register a comprehensive 21-10, 21-16 victory over Thai fourth seed Nichaon Jindapon, while World No.5 Srikanth dug deep to beat compatriot H.S. Prannoy 12-21, 21-12, 21-14 in an hour and two minutes. Commonwealth Games 2014 champion Kashyap moved past Danish second seed Viktor Axelsen 18-21, 22-20, 21-7 in an hour and five minutes. However, two-time World Championships bronze medallist Sindhu was tamed 13-21, 13-21 in 39 minutes by reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain. The second seeded Indian women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 16-21, 21-19, 13-21 in an hour to the Malaysian fourth seeds Amelia Alicia Anscelly and Fie Cho Soong. The fifth seeded Indian men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy lost 12-21, 18-21 in 30 minutes against the fourth seeded Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov. Another Indian men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar was thrashed 10-21, 13-21 by World No.2 Danish pair of Mathias Boe and Carten Mogensen. In the mixed doubles semi-final, Manu and K. Maneesha were edged out 22-24, 19-21 in 41 minutes by the Russian pair of Evgenij Dremin and Evgenia Dimova. Saina dominated the match from the beginning, moving swiftly within the court. The 24-year-old took a 5-2 lead before Jindapon equalised at 7-7. However, Saina stamped her authority to gain seven points at a stretch and continued her aggressive game to take a further four straight points to complete the first game’s formality. In the second game, World No.22 Jindapon improved her game and challenged the Hyderabadi on several occasions. Even though Saina looked in control, Jindapon put up a brave fight and hung in there till the last before Saina made a perfect finish to win the second game 21-16. With this win, Olympic bronze medallist Saina took a 3-0 lead in career meetings against the Thai. Saina will face World No.7 Marin, who hardly worked up a sweat against the 19-year-old Sindhu. Spaniard Marin, who now leads 3-1 in career meetings against Sindhu, trails 0-2 in career records against Saina. In the match between Srikanth and Prannoy, top seed Srikanth looked out of sorts in the first game, losing it 12-21. But the 21-year-old Srikanth, who defeated five-time world champion Lin Dan to lift the Chinese Grand Prix Gold 2014 title, came back strongly in the second game. Putting up a vastly improved show, he won 21-12 and continued his aggression to win the third game 21-14 against Prannoy. This win helped Srikanth to take a 2-1 lead in career meetings over the 22-year-old Prannoy. In the match between World No.15 Kashyap and World No.10 Axelsen, the Indian lost the first set 18-21 but fought hard to win the second game 22-20. In the third game, the Danish looked tired and surrendered meekly 7-21 to the 28-year-old Kashyap. IANS