Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Dec 22: India’s men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy ended the season on a high by claiming their maiden Grand Prix title Sunday night with a straight-game win over Thailand’s Bodin Issara and Nipitphon Puangpuapech in the final of Mexico Open.
The third seeded Indian pair, who had reached the finals of US Open and Dutch Open, finally lay their hands on a Grand Prix title when they defeated Bodin and Nipitphon 22-20, 21-18 in a 35-minute battle at the Centro Deportivo Chapultepec AC.
“They’re the No. 1 pair of Thailand, so it was a tough match for us as we had lost to them in the last tournament (K&D Graphics Grand Prix in California). But we played really good and it was our day,” Manu stated over the phone.
“We played without any pressure and there were no unforced errors from our side. Basically we played amazing badminton. It was one of the best matches ever,” he added.
It was a gritty performance from the Indian duo as they never gave up in the face of adversity despite falling behind a couple of times during the opening game. They led 11-9 at the first interval.
After the break even though the Thai pair levelled the scores, the Indians once again built up a 15-12 lead which they then extended to 20-16. But then nerves seemed to affect them as they made silly errors to allow the Thai pair restore parity at 20-all. But two sharp smashes by Sumeeth helped India annex the first game.
“This is our first big title in this year. And it’s really a good motivation for us for the New Year. This win will definitely give a big boost to our Olympic qualification campaign,” said Manu.
