Dubai: On a superb day for Indian shuttlers, Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and World No.8 Kidambi Srikanth won their respective singles matches to open the World Super Series badminton final campaign on a positive note, here on Wednesday.Fifth-seeded Saina stunned reigning Asian Games champion Shixian Wang of China 21-17, 21-18 in her women’s singles group encounter to lead the way for Srikanth at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
The highest-ranked Indian male shuttler, Srikanth, then had a tough outing against Kento Momota of Japan but the sixth-seeded player overturned a one-game deficit to win 15-21, 21-16, 21-10.Srikanth, 21, who was a year older than his Japanese opponent, started off lazily to lose the first game but soon got the grip.
If the second game was fought hard then by the third Srikanth moved like a well-oiled machine to dispatch the Japanese.
But it was Saina who started the day on a positive note after outplaying her former World No.1 rival in little less than an hour. A 2011 finalist, Saina showed great temperament and good repertoire of strokes to tame Shixian, who had beaten the Indian four times in their last five meetings.Coming into the match, Saina held a 5-5 record against Shixian and kept the Chinese on a tight lease right from the start of the match.
