Sindhu clinches Syed Modi International title, beats Malvika Bansod

Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu clinched the 2022 Syed Modi International title after beating young Malvika Bansod in the women's singles final at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, here on Sunday. The 26-year old Sindhu beat Malvika 21-13, 21-16 in just 35 minutes to win her second title at the Super 300 event.

Lucknow: Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu clinched the 2022 Syed Modi International title after beating young Malvika Bansod in the women's singles final at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, here on Sunday. The 26-year old Sindhu beat Malvika 21-13, 21-16 in just 35 minutes to win her second title at the Super 300 event.

She had won the tournament in 2017 as well. It was also Sindhu's first BWF title since winning the BWF World Championships in 2019, after losing twice in the finals last year at the Swiss Open and the BWF World Tour Finals. The two-time Olympic medallist raced to a 7-0 lead inside the first three minutes and kept the charge on to pocket the game quite comfortably in 14 minutes.

The second game saw a similar pattern with the world No 7 leading 11-4 at the mid-game interval. Bansod, the world No. 84, mounted a comeback and reduced the lead at 17-12 but the experienced Sindhu went on to seal the match in straight games. Notably, this was the first meeting between the 20-year-old Malvika Bansod and PV Sindhu at the international circuit.

Bansod, who clinched the All-India Senior Ranking Championships in December, had beaten the London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal at the India Open, earlier this month. Meanwhile, the mixed doubles title went to seventh seeds Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, who defeated compatriots Nagendra Babu and Srivedya Gurazada 21-16, 21-12 in the 29 minutes final to claim their first Super 300 crown.

The pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Pullela won the women's doubles title after beating Anna Cheong Ching Yik and Teoh Mei Xing.Earlier, the men's singles final between Frenchman Arnaud Merkle and Lucas Claerbout was declared a 'no match'. One of the finalists tested positive for Covid-19 while the other was deemed a close contact and was also withdrawn.

The Syed Modi International 2022 was the second tournament in this year's BWF calendar after the India Open. The Odisha Open Super 100, will be the next tournament, scheduled to be held in Cuttack from January 25 to 30.

IANS