Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy win national titles

Saina Nehwal dug deep into her reservoir of experience and upstaged fancied PV Sindhu, quite incredibly, in straight games to clinch the women’s singles title in the Senior National Badminton Championship on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Saina, a former world number one, got the better of Sindhu, the Olympic and World Championship silver medallist, 21-17, 27-25 in a pulsating summit clash that lasted 54 minutes.

“I am surprised with the way I played today. I moved well and picked Sindhu’s difficult shots,” an elated Saina said after the win.

Second seed HS Prannoy, who achieved a career-best World No. 11 ranking last week, saw off top seed World No 2 Kidambi Srikanth 21-15, 16-21, 21-7 in a 49-minute battle to win the men’s singles title in the 82nd edition of the tournament.