Treesa-Gayatri bag title; Srikanth loses in final

The Indian women’s pair won a marathon final against their Japanese rivals as Srikanth lost to Hong Kong's Gunawan

- Sharad Deep

Teesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand celebrate after winning the Syed Modi India title.

(DEEPAK GUPTA/HT)

Fifth-seeded Srikanth went down fighting to unseeded Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong 16-21, 21-8, 20-22, but Treesa and Gayatri came from behind to brush aside the Japanese pair of Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe 17-21, 21-13, 21-15 in a marathon final, which lasted for over one hour.

Defending champions Treesa and Gayatri even after levelling the score at eight in the first game, went down fighting. But after the change of ends, the two were altogether different, unleashing a series of powerful smashes to keep the Japanese pair on their toes.

In decider too, the two continued to dominate and took 11-5 lead at the change ends. Though Japanese shuttlers tried their best to reduce the margin with fine drops and returns, making the score to 9-13, the Indian pair didn’t bother much and raced to the finish line.