Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched his maiden Syed Modi International title and his fourth major trophy, defeating China's Huang Yuxiang in the final in Lucknow on Sunday. Top seed Srikanth had finished runner-up on two previous occasions. He looked set to win against Yuxiang, running home with the first set 21-14. The unseeded Yuxiang, however, fought back to take the second set 14-21. The third set was a see-saw affair as Srikanth went down 4-8, but then clawed back to win five consecutive points.
Yuxiang then got some points on his own to lead 13-12 again, but the Indian world No 9 finally sealed the match with a streak of points to win the last set 21-14. Srikanth's medal would unfortunately be the only gold for India in the tournament. In the men's doubles final earlier, the Indian duo of Pranav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar went down 14-21, 24-22, 21-8 to the Malaysian pair of Goh V Shem and Wee Kiong Tan in the final.
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