Lucknow: Former three-time winner Saina Nehwal suffered a shocking straight game defeat while reigning champion Sameer Verma managed to defend his title to win the Syed Modi International World Tour Super 300 finals here on Sunday.
Saina, ranked at number nine in the world, suffered a shocking 21-18, 21-8 defeat against Han Yue of China.
Han, ranked 27, showed the doors to Saina without breaking a sweat in the women’s finals game that lasted 34 minutes.
Meanwhile, third-seeded Sameer had to work hard to retain his title and thrashed Lu Guangzu of China 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 in the summit clash.
Commonwealth Games silver medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Gold Coast bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also lost their summit clash in men’s doubles and women’s doubles events, respectively.
The Indian duo of Satwiksairaj-Chirag, who had won a Super 100 title at Hyderabad, was thrashed by the Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 11-21, 20-22 in the men’s doubles finals.
In women’s doubles finals, Ashwini and Sikki were denied victory by their Malaysian counterparts Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean, who stole the game 21-15, 21-13.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]