<p>Kidambi Srikanth is elated after his title triumph at Indonesia Open and believes the win has come just at the right time for him.<br /><br />Srikanth, 24, beat Kazumasa Sakai of Japan to win his second Super Series Premier title. It has been a fantastic week for the shuttler from Guntur who had beaten World No 1 Son Wan Ho to reach the final. He also became the first Indian male shuttler to win the Indonesia Open. <br /><br />"It has been some time I won a Super Series title. I battled injuries after Olympics, but I am happy I fought back, and reached another final after the Singapore Open," Srikanth said.<br /><br />"I am very happy with the way I am playing. I am making good use of my attack and adapting to conditions. Today I started off really well, and even though he (Sakai) played really well in the second game, I fought back.”<br /><br />Apart from Srikanth, H S Prannoy too put up an impressive performance in the tournament, beating Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei and current Olympic champion Chen Long of China en route to the semifinal. <br /><br />"This is a great phase for Indian men shuttlers. In the past we had not performed so consistently, but now we are doing it. I feel the coach Mulyo Handoyo has a done a fantastic job on our fitness," said Srikanth who will next play the Australian Open.<br /><br />Srikanth, who had a long injury lay-off after the Rio Olympics, said it was tough to come out from the injury.<br /><br />“I was out of badminton for sometime after the Olympics, it was the longest time that I have been out ever since I started playing, so that phase kept motivating me. It was tough to come out of that injury phase and so I am really happy with this win,” he added.<br /><br />Playing in tricky conditions, Srikanth took time to gauge the conditions as his initial returns went wide.<br /><br />But his rival also suffered because of similar unforced errors and the Indian led 6-4 early on. He consolidated his lead to reach 11-8 at the break.<br /><br />After the interval, Srikanth continued to dominate the proceedings. His net dribbles were better than Sakai’s and the Indian zoomed to a 19-11 lead and sealed it with two lucky net chord points.<br />After the change of ends, Sakai was more aggressive in his approach and produced an improved net game to dominate the rallies.<br /><br />Soon, the Japanese was leading 7-3 as he entered the break with an 11-6 lead with the help of a backhand return near the net.<br /><br />After the interval, Srikanth’s aggressive game gave him the desired results. He turned the tables and caught up with the Japanese at 13-13 with an on-rushing smash at the net.<br /><br />The duo moved neck and neck after that till 19-19 before Srikanth produced two fantastic smashes to seal the deal and punch the air in celebration. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced a cash award of Rs 5 lakh for Srikanth.<br /></p>
<p>Kidambi Srikanth is elated after his title triumph at Indonesia Open and believes the win has come just at the right time for him.<br /><br />Srikanth, 24, beat Kazumasa Sakai of Japan to win his second Super Series Premier title. It has been a fantastic week for the shuttler from Guntur who had beaten World No 1 Son Wan Ho to reach the final. He also became the first Indian male shuttler to win the Indonesia Open. <br /><br />"It has been some time I won a Super Series title. I battled injuries after Olympics, but I am happy I fought back, and reached another final after the Singapore Open," Srikanth said.<br /><br />"I am very happy with the way I am playing. I am making good use of my attack and adapting to conditions. Today I started off really well, and even though he (Sakai) played really well in the second game, I fought back.”<br /><br />Apart from Srikanth, H S Prannoy too put up an impressive performance in the tournament, beating Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei and current Olympic champion Chen Long of China en route to the semifinal. <br /><br />"This is a great phase for Indian men shuttlers. In the past we had not performed so consistently, but now we are doing it. I feel the coach Mulyo Handoyo has a done a fantastic job on our fitness," said Srikanth who will next play the Australian Open.<br /><br />Srikanth, who had a long injury lay-off after the Rio Olympics, said it was tough to come out from the injury.<br /><br />“I was out of badminton for sometime after the Olympics, it was the longest time that I have been out ever since I started playing, so that phase kept motivating me. It was tough to come out of that injury phase and so I am really happy with this win,” he added.<br /><br />Playing in tricky conditions, Srikanth took time to gauge the conditions as his initial returns went wide.<br /><br />But his rival also suffered because of similar unforced errors and the Indian led 6-4 early on. He consolidated his lead to reach 11-8 at the break.<br /><br />After the interval, Srikanth continued to dominate the proceedings. His net dribbles were better than Sakai’s and the Indian zoomed to a 19-11 lead and sealed it with two lucky net chord points.<br />After the change of ends, Sakai was more aggressive in his approach and produced an improved net game to dominate the rallies.<br /><br />Soon, the Japanese was leading 7-3 as he entered the break with an 11-6 lead with the help of a backhand return near the net.<br /><br />After the interval, Srikanth’s aggressive game gave him the desired results. He turned the tables and caught up with the Japanese at 13-13 with an on-rushing smash at the net.<br /><br />The duo moved neck and neck after that till 19-19 before Srikanth produced two fantastic smashes to seal the deal and punch the air in celebration. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced a cash award of Rs 5 lakh for Srikanth.<br /></p>