Saina Nehwal and P.Kashyap began their 2015 badminton season on a positive note winning the Syed Modi International India Masters. The tournament itself was a confidence builder for the Indian team as eight players and pairs made it to the semi-finals over five events.
The Men’s final was an all-Indian contest as top seed K.Srikanth took on P.Kashyap. Kashyap, high on confidence after his semi-final win, over World No.10, Viktor Axelsen held his nerves in two games to prevail 23-21, 23-21. This victory is surely, what Kashyap needs to boost his self-esteem and push him to perform better than ever in 2015.
Defending champion, Saina Nehwal made it her fourth title triumph in Lucknow as she won the Marathon final 19-21,25-23,21-16 over World Champion, Carolina Marin. The Hyderabadi gave away the first game after leading 15-7, but made sure she did not repeat her mistakes as she scraped through the remaining games. Saina’s first title of 2015 and her rise to World No.3 are sure signs of her having a wonderful season.
H.S.Prannoy and P.V.Sindhu also had a good tournament, reaching the semi-finals before losing to Srikanth and Carolina respectively. Prannoy has been showing signs of promise and is the man to look up to. The doubles pairs, Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy and Jwala/Ashwini had a decent tournament too, reaching the last four in a tournament, which had tough competition. 2015 indeed looks good for Indian Badminton.
