Sindhu, Sameer triumph at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold

TIL Desk Sports/ Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and National champion Sameer Verma began the new season on a resounding note by winning the women’s and men’s singles crowns respectively at the USD 120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament. In fact, India scooped up three titles out of the five events in the tournament.

Top seed Sindhu, who has been in rampaging form last season, brushed aside Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska in the summit clash, while Sameer, who had reached the finals of Hong Kong Super Series, defeated compatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-19 21-16 in a 44-minute final.

Second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who had won Grand Prix titles at Brazil and Russia, also lay claim to their maiden GPG title in mixed doubles after beating compatriots Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy, seventh seeds, 22-20 21-10 in the finals.

In the women’s singles final, Sindhu didn’t break any sweat as she took just 30 minutes to outplay Mariska for her maiden Syed Modi title. She had lost the finals to former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal in 2014 edition.