Sindhu, Srikanth eye Indonesia Masters GPG title

After completing a hat-trick of titles at Macau Open, Indian shuttler P V Sindhu is now training her eyes at the Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold, which starts with the qualifiers at Gedung Graha Cakrawala here tomorrow.
Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, Sindhu defeated Japan's Minatsu Mitani in the final to clinch the USD 120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold yesterday and the Indian will look to add another title to her name when she opens her campaign against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska.
"My immediate target is Indonesia Masters," Sindhu had said last night after winning the Macau Open.
Top seed Srikanth, who has qualified for the BWF SUper Series Final at Dubai for the second successive time, will face Indonesia's Wibowo Setyaldi Putra in the men's singles competition.

Srikanth is going through a rough patch and will like to come up with a good outing at Indonesia.
The Indian pair struggled with their lifts early on as

most of them found the net to allow the Korean pair lead 7-2. Pranaav then came up with few towering smashes from back of the court to narrow it down to 7-10 but an unforced error helped the Koreans go into the break with a 11-7 lead.
After the break, Koreans continues to rule the roost as the Indian pair had no answers to their fast paced rallies. Finally a buried net shot gave the Koreans the game point and they sealed it with Sa Rang coming up with a smash.

In the decider, India lead 7-5 and despite a periodic onslaught from Korea made to 10-6. But they finally entered the interval at 11-9 when the Koreans hit the net. Akshay lacked the finishing touch in the last few points but he started with an outstretched backhand smash after the break.
The rallies became faster and aggressive after that but the Koreans picked up the gaps well to wrest back the lead at 14-13. However, the lead soon changed hands frequently before the Indian pair grabbed three match points and then wrapped it off in first chance with the Koreans finding the net thrice.

In the second semifinals, Srikanth, who had thrashed the Thai shuttler last week at Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, grabbed an 11-6 lead at the break. He varied the pace by using his lifts and drops and made good use of the smashes to bamboozle Ponsana.
Nothing changed after the interval as Ponsana continued to crumble under pressure with Srikanth keeping him on his toes. The Thai player picked up a point here and there but overall it was a dominant show from the Indian who went to the game point with an accurate half smash. Ponsana saved one but hit wide next as Srikanth earned the bragging rights.

In the second game, Ponsana took a slender 2-0 lead but it vapourised soon as he started to hit wide, long and found the net. Srikanth kept the shuttle at the corners of back court and then caught up Ponsana at the net.
The Thai player also didn't have any answer to Srikanth sharp and accurate placements as in the break the Indian lead 11-4. Even after the interval, the story remained the same with Ponsana showing no sign of recovery. With his unforced errors piling up, Srikanth zoomed to a massive match point at 20-7, which he pocketed without any delay when Ponsana hit long again.

Thailand's attempt to clinch a title in women's singles also got scuttled as both Nitchaon Jindapol and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk bowed out of the event today.
While second seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea spanked Jindapol 21-16 21-8 to face off fifth seed Sayaka Sato of Japan, who notched up a 21-15 21-17 win over Porntip in another semifinal.