Super Sunday for Saina, Srikanth

Landmark Day for Indian badminton as both win China Open

Hyderabad: Chief National coach Pullela Gopichand summed up the $700,000 China Open finals in Fuzhou in the best possible manner when he contended that it was a landmark day for Indian badminton.

Sunday indeed heralds the advent of a new order where in not only the women but even Indian men can enjoy the status of being hailed as pre-tournament favourites.

Saina clinched the $ 700,000 China Open Super Series Premier tournament after beating young Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, while K Srikanth clinched his maiden Super Series title after defeating two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.

Although, Saina had the personal satisfaction of winning her maiden China Open title, it was actually the arrival of K Srikanth onto the big league that marks a new high for the country’s tryst in badminton and raises hitherto non-existent sense of optimism. In an interesting development, that has ominous ramifications in the immediate foreseeable future, Saina has won a major (her third this year) after coming under the tutelage of Vimal Kumar.

In more than doing his bit, Srikanth overly demonstrated that the China Wall was not as impregnable as it is made out to be. There were no psychological factors at play when he routed Lin Dan in front of a vociferous home crowd that was left stupefied with the Indian’s ruthless power tactics that bore the hallmark of a true champion.

Srikanth did not merely win one more title but created perhaps the biggest upset by an Indian male shuttler in recent history. By taming the might Super Dan, Srikanth has finally arrived and did so with a dazzling dexterity that will go down as a memorable outing for Indians overall.

It is a historic day because this is the first time that India has scored a double in a Super Series Premier, which, in itself is cause for nationwide celebration. Srikanth, perennially living under the shadow of his more popular compatriot, Parupalli Kashyap despite being endowed with loads of talent, came with all guns blazing that saw the two-time Olympic champion caught on the wrong foot time and again for a fantastic straight-game victory at Haixia Olympic Sport Center. In contrast, the fifth seeded Saina did not have to reckon with any Chinese challenge for the title.

In his own characteristic way, Srikanth, who exemplifies the elegance of Prakash Padukone, has come to fill a long existing void, considering that Chetan Anand and Kashyap (whose only significant win has been the CWG gold this year) have not really lived up to their potential.

In Srikanth, Indian men badminton has found a new hero who can hopefully maintain the tempo into the future because an odd title may not be enough.