Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched Denmark Open Superseries trophy

Odense, October 23: Star Indian ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth on Sunday registered a thrilling victory over South Korea's Lee Hyun-il to clinch the Denmark Open Superseries trophy. Notably, Kidambi Srikanth also became the first Indian to win three Superseries titles and fifth overall in a single year.

 

Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated South Korea's Lee Hyun Il by 21-10, 21-5 in one of the most one-sided Superseries finals in history. Kidambi Srikanth played a comprehensive game throughout the match Hyun Il was unable to pose any real threat to the Indian.

Despite losing the first two points of the match, Srikanth surged back into the game with his trademark jump-smash to make it 1-2. From there Srikanth displayed a great mix of attacking and net play to take a massive 11-6 lead at the break. Further with his accurate smashing skills, Kidambi won the first set by 21-10 in just 12 minutes.

The second game began in a similar manner as Srikanth opened up a huge 5-1 lead early on. Hyun Il looked tired in front of the Indian and struggled to play returns to Srikanth. Srikanth took the lead of 11-1 at the break in the second game and thereafter, he only kept increasing the lead. As Hyun Il hit the net, Srikanth won the second game 21-5 and the match to go on top of the BWF Dubai Destination Rankings.

Importantly, Srikanth has spent 240 minutes on the court, the longest of which was an hour 51 minutes pre-quarterfinal 21-13, 8-21, 21-18 win against Jeon Hyeok Jin of Korea. In the quarter-final, Kidambi defeated world champion Viktor Axelsen 14-21, 22-20, 21-7 in 55 minutes.

Earlier in the year, Srikanth reached three straight Super Series final in Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. He became the first male Indian to win back-to-back Super Series title when he won the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier and Australian Open Super Series.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Srikanth for the win and said in a tweet that the victory has made every Indian proud. He said, “Congratulations @srikidambi! Your remarkable victory at the #DenmarkSSP makes every Indian proud and happy.”

While Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore said, “What a day for Indian sports! @srikidambi wins #DenmarkSSP, and with it, his THIRD super series for the year! Well done, champ! Way to go!”.