Badminton at National Games: Sai Praneeth edges out HS Prannoy as Telangana ambush Kerala to win team gold

badminton gold at the National Games here on Monday. Enduring a dip in form for over a year now, Tokyo Olympian Praneeth finally had something to cheer about as he dug deep into his reservoir to see off Kerala's top shuttler Prannoy 18-21 21-16 22-20 to give Telangana a 2-0 lead. His victory came on the heels of another brilliant show by the husband-and-wife duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy, who got the better of the youthful pair of MR Arjun and Treesa Jolly 21-15 14-21 21-14 in a thrilling battle.

In the women's singles, Samiya Farooqui beat TR Gowrikrishna 21-5 21-12 to seal the win for Telangana. Telangana's decision to field the experienced Sumeeth and Sikki in the opening mixed doubles match ahead of Vishnuvardhan Goud and Gayatri Gopichand, who had lost against Maharashtra, paid dividends as they put the team ahead. "We only gave the coach the option of trying us out," Sumeeth said, even though they had last played together way back in the 2021 Thailand Open.

The couple fumbled at the start as the speedy Arjun and Treesa jumped into an early 5-2 lead. "We were playing after a long time. We don't even practice together as we quite often get into arguments.

It took some time to get into a rhythm. But once we found our groove, we got into a good rhythm," said a smiling Sikki. The Kerala pair, however, fought back to win the second game, with Arjun sending powerful smashes from the backline and Treesa being efficient at the net.

The third game went close till 12-all before a change of strategy did the trick for Telangana. "I think the turning point was when I went for variations in my service, not giving them any length," Sikki explained. The next match was crucial with Prannoy, who is currently ranked 15th in