Kidambi Srikanth registered his third Super Series title. (Source: Twitter)
Kidambi Srikanth will be rewarded with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) it was revealed on Sunday. And the badminton body had good reason to do that as he beat World no. 47 Kazumasa Sakai of Japan 21-11, 21-19 in straight games to clinch the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier.
President of the Badminton Association of India, Himanta Biswa Sarma celebrated youngster’s win and said,”It is a matter of huge joy for the entire country to see Srikanth triumph in Indonesia. I called him right after the match to congratulate him on this stellar win. He has made the whole country proud once again and I am quite confident he will keep doing so in future as well.”
Srikanth had a slow start to the season as he was suffering from injury, but he showed a remarkable comeback after a stunning win over World No.1 Son Wan Ho in the semifinals and continued his game to dominate Sakai in straight games in the final.
With this victory, Srikanth registered his third Super Series Premier title and becoming the first Indian shuttler to clinch the Indonesian Open. Apart from Srikanth’s success another impressive performance was put up by HS Prannoy who played impressively in the tournament, making it to the semifinals. He gave his best performance against Sakai but unfortunately couldn’t go through in a marathon. In his previous matches he defeated Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and current Olympic champion Chen Long of China.
Anup Narang, the official spokesperson and General Secretary of BAI said, “We are really delighted at Kidambi’s achievement and to celebrate that Dr. Sarma on behalf of BAI has announced a cash reward of 5 lakh for his stupendous performance in Jakarta.”