Kidambi Srikanth defeats Chen Long in the finals of Australian Super Series.
Sunday morning did went the right way for the Indian fans as Kidambi Srikanth triumphed in the mens singles final against the Olympic champions and current world number 5, Chen Long of China . Srikanth won in straight games 22-20 , 21- 16
The first set was dominated by Srikanth as his cross court smashes were too lethal for Chen Long to defend. The chinese was trailing 13- 17 ,but he bounced back and bagged six consecutive points to make it 19-17 in his favour . Srikanth though had some other plans as he fighted back and made it 20- 20 and further went on to clinch those two crucial points to take the game 22-20.
Second set also saw the domination of Srikanth as he didn’t let the olympic champion fight back . His powerful presence on the court was also praised by the on-air commentators , who termed him as the strongest Indian shuttler of all time . He took the game 21-16 and became the champion of Australia Open Super Series in mens singles category .
This is Srikanth’s 3rd consecutive Super Series finals this year, out of which he has managed to win the last two , Indonesian Open and Australia Open respectively.
He finished runner up in the Singapore Open Super Series where he lost to his countrymen , B. Sai Praneeth.
The Indian shuttler from Gopichand academy started as the world ranked 26th in the Singapore open and from there he has played some outstanding badminton to see himself rise to 11th rank in the BWF rankings . Though, he had a career best of 3rd rank in the world and watching his current form one can say that 3rd rank will also not be far from his reach now. After winning today’s final , Srikanth also becomes the world number one in Destination Dubai badminton rankings .
India had the most superseries final appearance this year . With PV Sindhu in Indian Open Super Series Finals , B Sai Praneeth in Singapore Open Super Series finals and Kidambi Srikanth in Singapore Open , Indonesian Open and Australia Open Super Series finals.
