Kolkata: Things are getting better and bigger for Kidambi Srikanth with each passing day as he seems to write his own history in the pages of Indian badminton. It was just last week that the star Indian shuttler won the Indonesia Super Series title beating Kazumasa Sakai in the finals.
He carried that similar form into the Australian Open Super Series Badminton Championships and after a day when he became the only Indian and sixth men’s singles player to make it to the finals of three consecutive Super Series tournaments, he won the silverware and well by beating the Rio Olympic gold medallist to emerge as a figure that the badminton fraternity is going to remember for a long long time.
Srikanth displayed one of the best performances of his career at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre as his brilliant tactical play helped him go past the Olympic champion Chen Long 22-20, 21-16 and finish the match in 45 minutes.
The opening game was an even contest with Srikanth gaining an 11-9 lead courtesy some deceptive play at the break. After play resumed, Long fought back harder to win three straight points to make it to 12-11 but the game went straight down to the wire as the 24-year old from Guntur prevailed at the end with a 1-0 lead in 23 minutes.
The second game was even better for Srikanth as he dominated right away and took the scoreline to 11-9, the same as the earlier game at the break. But this time, he did not leave any room for Long to make a comeback as he opened up a five point lead at 19-15 and then sealed the game and the title for himself as he wrapped up things at 21-16 to gain his first victory over Long in six meetings.
Courtesy this fantastic win, Srikanth jumped to number 11 in the world rankings and would also enter the top 10 when the updated list of players comes out this Thursday.
In April, he battled it out against his Indian counterpart Praneeth in a memorable encounter in the Singapore Open final that saw him end up at the losing side. But he didn’t lose heart and went on to win the Indonesia Super Series championship and now, the Australian Super Series. He has taken some giant strides in world badminton and his scintillating performances undoubtedly has made the future of Indian badminton brighter and better.