Srikanth, Treesa-Gayatri enter Syed Modi Intl final

Former champion Kidambi Srikanth and defending women’s doubles winners Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand notched up contrasting wins to progress to the men’s and women’s doubles finals of the Syed Modi International badminton tournament here on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Srikanth, who lifted the title in 2016, staved off a spirited challenge from compatriot and 2023 national champion Mithun Manjunath to prevail 21-15 19-21 21-13 in a pulsating last-four clash.
A 2021 World Championships silver medallist, Srikanth, who had earlier reached the final of the Malaysia Masters this season, now awaits the winner of the other semifinal between Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan and Japan’s Minoru Koga.
Moments before Srikanth’s victory, world No.14 Treesa and Gayatri displayed sharp tactical awareness and excellent control of the conditions to record a commanding 21-11 21-15 win over Malaysia’s world No.33 Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting in the women’s doubles semifinals.
The Indian pair, playing only their second event since Gayatri’s return from a five-month shoulder injury layoff, will face Japan’s eighth seeds Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe in Sunday’s final as they seek to defend their crown.
However, India’s women’s singles campaign came to an end in the semifinals, with both Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma suffering straight-game defeats.
Unnati went down 15-21 10-21 to Turkey’s Neslihan Arin, while Tanvi, who had stunned former world champion Nozomi Okuhara earlier in the event, lost 17-21 16-21 to Japan’s Hina Akechi.
Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Treesa bowed out with a 17-21 19-21 loss to Indonesia’s Dejan Ferdinansyah and Bernadine Anindya Wardana.
Treesa and Gayatri put up a dominant show in the opening game, pulling ahead from 8-7 to take an 11-7 lead at the interval. Maintaining a tight grip thereafter, they comfortably extended the advantage before sealing the game after their opponents committed two unforced errors. After the change of ends, the Malaysians fought back strongly, matching the Indians point for point before Treesa and Gayatri edged ahead 11-10 at the break.
The home pair then created vital separation at 17-14 and earned five match points when their rivals sent a shuttle long. A series of high tosses ended with Ting sending another shot long, handing the Indians the match.