Syed Modi International: Sameer Verma Retains Title, Saina Nehwal Loses In Finals

India's Sameer Verma defeated Lu Guangzu of China in the men's singles final to successfully defend and win the Syed Modi International Championships in Lucknow on Sunday. Sameer registered a 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 win against his sixth-seeded Chinese opponent in a match that lasted an hour and 10 minutes. However, in the women's singles, world number nine Saina Nehwal suffered an 18-21, 8-21 loss to China's Han Yue.

In the men's singles final, Sameer trailed his opponent 8-11 at the mid-break of the opening game. After the break, Guangzu won five points in a row to take a 16-10 lead. Sameer, on the other hand, tried hard to make a comeback but eventually lost the first game 16-21.

In the second game, Sameer took an 11-8 lead at the mid-break, but Guangzu upped the ante and won six consecutive points to lead his Indian counterpart by 16-14. However, Sameer held his nerve to seal the second game by 21-19.

Sameer, yet again, started slowly in the third game as he trailed his opponent 7-10. However, the Indian took a slender 11-10 lead at the mid-break.

After the break, Sameer maintained a healthy gap and eventually won the third game 21-14.

This was Sameer's third title major win, following victories at Swiss Open and Hyderabad Open.

In the women's singles, Saina suffered a crushing defeat as she lost to fourth-seeded Han Yue in straight games.

Saina looked off-colour as Han Yue clinched the victory in the finals in just 34 minutes.

In the men's doubles finals, the Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 11-21, 20-22 to Indonesia's Fajar Alfain Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

In the women's doubles final, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy lost 15-21, 13-21 to Malaysia's Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean.