Super Sunday for Sindhu, Sameer

Lucknow: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and National champion Sameer Verma began the new season on a resounding note by winning the women and men singles crowns respectively at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Sunday.

In fact, India scooped up three titles out of the five events in the tournament. Top seed Sindhu brushed aside Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska 21-13, 21-14 in the summit clash, while Sameer, who had reached the finals of Hong Kong Super Series, defeated compatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-19 ,21-16 in a 44-minute final.

Second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who had won Grand Prix titles at Brazil and Russia, also lay claim to their maiden GPG title in mixed doubles after beating compatriots Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy, seventh seeds, 22-20 21-10 in the finals.

In the women's singles final, Sindhu didn't break any sweat as she took just 30 minutes to outplay Mariska for her maiden Syed Modi title. She had lost the finals to former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal in 2014 edition.

Sameer fought back from 5-11 down in both the games to outwit fellow Indian Praneeth, who looked in discomfort with his right shoulder and committed too many unforced errors.