Lucknow: Top-seeded Kidambi Srikanth also stormed into the men’s singles final of the Syed Modi International Badminton Champion-ships here on Saturday, while the rising Indian doubles duo of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra stunned World No.7 Koreans Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang in an edge-of-the-seat semifinal to seal their maiden Grand Prix Gold final.
The World No. 36 Indian combo punched over their weight when they edged out Gi Jung and Sa Rang, the two-time World Championship bronze medallist pair, 25-23, 13-21, 21-17 in a match that lasted an hour and four minutes.
Earlier, Srikanth cruised into the men’s singles final with a lop-sided straight-game win over Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.
In a completely one-sided contest, Srikanth made mincemeat of 11th seed Ponsana 21-14, 21-7 in 32 minutes to set up a summit clash with China’s Huang Yuxiang, who edged out compatriot Shi Yuqi 17-21, 22-20, 21-12 in a thrilling semifinal.
Among others in fray, Commonwealth Games silver-medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa failed to break the Korean pair of Jung Kyung Eun and Shin Seung Chan, going down 14-21, 16-21 in a women’s doubles match that lasted 39 minutes here.
Pranaav and Akshay, who had come into the match with a dismal 0-3 record against their fancied Korean rivals, played out of their skins to set up a summit clash with unseeded Malaysian combination of V. Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan, who dispatched top seeds and London Olympics silver-medallists Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 21-16, 21-18 in another semifinal clash.
