Sindhu, Srikanth crowned national badminton champs

Top shuttler P.V. Sindhu regained the women's title she had lost last year by coming out on top against Rituparna Das while Kidambi Srikanth won his maiden men's crown at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here Monday.

The World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu, playing in her third consecutive women's singles final, was eager to win here after losing in the summit clash last year to Pune's Sayali Gokhale.

In one year the 18-year-old top seed, having taken huge strides in the international field, has become a towering personality in the domestic circuit and easily dominated the tournament,, winning the final 21-11, 21-17 in half an hour against the junior national champion to claim her second national title in three years.

Srikanth, on the other hand, made a huge leap by winning the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold earlier this year and looked full of confidence in his final against second seed R.M.V. Gurusaidutt.

The latter was suffering with a back problem and could not really live up to his potential and handed fifth seed Srikanth a 21-13, 22-20 victory in 40 minutes.

Former World Championship bronze medal winning pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who recombined their partnership only a few months back, clinched their second women's doubles crown together since 2009.

Top seeds N. Siki Reddy and Pradnya Gadre tried their best but were no match for the Commonwealth Games gold medallists, losing 17-21, 16-21 in 34 minutes.

However, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar had sweet revenge in the men's doubles final after losing to B. Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri in last year's final in Srinagar. But Monday was their day as the top seeds won the crown for the first time 21-19, 21-17 in 39 minutes.

Mixed doubles second seeds Aparna Balan and Arun Vishnu continued their dominance in their field by winning their third consecutive mixed doubles title by drubbing regular internationals and top seeds Ashwini Ponnappa and Tarun Kona in the second successive national final.

The Calicut combine caused the upset in the shortest match of the day winning 21-10, 21-17 in 29 minutes.