Srikanth cruises into final
Youngster K. Srikanth entered the final of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a comfortable, straight-sets victory over local favourite Thammasin Sitthikom in the men’s singles event on Saturday.
Srikanth, seeded 13th, took 43 minutes to overcome his opponent 21-14, 21-18 at the Nimitbutr National Stadium here.
The Indian will take on the Thai world number seven Boonsak Ponsana on Sunday. “He is a very good player but beatable. The fact that my fellow mates have beaten him recently actually gives me a lot of confidence,” Srikanth said on Ponsana.
Ponsana was beaten by Prannoy in Swiss Open in March. He was also defeated by Kashyap in last year's India Open. In the 2011 edition, Gurusaidutt had defeated him in Round 1.
In the first game, world no. 61 Srikanth opened up a 6-2 lead but Sitthikom soon caught up to make it 6-7.
The 20-year-old then registered eight consecutive points to surge ahead 15-6. He kept widening the gap to make it 20-7.
But just a point away from sealing off the opening game, the Thai bagged seven points on the trot to reduce the gap to 14-20. However, in the end, Srikanth pocketed the game comfortably.
Sitthikom came back strongly in the second game and turned the heat on Srikanth as the two were tied at 7-7.
Thereafter, it was a neck-and-neck contest till 17-17 before Srikanth managed to win three straight points to move ahead 20-17.
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