![\"B](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/B-Sai-Praneeth-Badminton.jpg\")
Singapore City: B. Sai Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title by downing compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 17-21, 21-17, 21-12 in the Singapore Open final here on Sunday.<\/p>\nSingapore City: B. Sai Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title by downing compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 17-21, 21-17, 21-12 in the Singapore Open final here on Sunday.<\/p>\n
This was Praneeth’s first appearance in a Super Series final, the biggest events of the international badminton calendar.<\/p>\n
Previously, Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Srikanth have won the coveted crown.<\/p>\n
Until Sunday, only three other countries — China, Indonesia and Denmark — had been represented on both sides of the court.<\/p>\n
After losing the first game 17-21, Praneeth showed tremendous grit to come back from being 1-6 in the dumps to level at 7-7.<\/p>\n
Srikanth tied to assert his dominance with a superb smash down the line to take a 8-7 lead but Praneeth seemed determined to go into the break 11-10, winning 10 of the 14 points on the bounce.<\/p>\n
Leading 18-16, Praneeth showed great awareness to outfox Srikanth who relied on his smashes and netplay to dink the cork over his head when he was closer to the net for a sublime point.<\/p>\n
Three game points to play for, Praneeth returned the favour this time with an identical 21-17 win to hang the final game perfectly in balance.<\/p>\n
In the final game, Praneeth opened up a 10-4 lead and never looked back as Srikanth made an error.<\/p>\n
Srikanth, who has a fair bit of experience having played in two finals and winning both – the 2015 India Open and 2014 China Open, never looked settled after the first game. It was Praneeth’s all round play and array of strokes that pinned his rival down.<\/p>\n
“It’s a great feeling,” an elated Praneeth said later. “I practice with him (Srikanth), so we know each other’s game very well. It was a really tough match.<\/p>\n
“I have been playing well in this tournament and the final win is very special. My hard work had paid off,” the 24-year-old said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Singapore City: B. Sai Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title by downing compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 17-21, 21-17, 21-12 in the Singapore Open final here on Sunday.<\/p>\n
This was Praneeth’s first appearance in a Super Series final, the biggest events of the international badminton calendar.<\/p>\n
Previously, Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Srikanth have won the coveted crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[20899,11264,466,11404,21967,21966],"class_list":["post-34319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-badminton-badminton","tag-b-sai-praneeth","tag-badminton-news","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-kidambi-srikanth","tag-singapore-open","tag-super-series-title"],"yoast_head":"\n