Srikanth overcomes stomach bug to win his 2nd successive title

‘Since I arrived in Sydney I have gastroenteritis and have had diarrhoea, so I have not been at my best physical condition’

Kidambi Srikanth notched up his second successive Super Series title with a stunning straight-game triumph over reigning Olympic and world champion Chen Long in the Australian Open summit clash in Sydney on Sunday.

"As a whole I played very well, but since I arrived in Sydney I have gastroenteritis and have had diarrhoea, so I have not been at my best physical condition. But since I made the final I wanted to continue to play as well as I could," an ecstatic Srikanth said after the victory.”

"It's just that I'm not thinking of winning or losing. I missed competitive badminton and wanted to enjoy the match. I missed that period of competitive badminton. It's like I wanted to hang in and play as many matches as possible," he added.

"These conditions are such that you can't really attack, it's a bit slow, you have to be prepared for a long match. In all the breaks I had the advantage, the coach told me to keep it going, not to make simple mistakes and allow him back into the match. My attack worked really well," Srikanth said.

The Indian was no pushover and played the catch-up game quite well, coming up with a couple of brilliant smashes of his own.

"I'm playing better after the Sudirman Cup. I should thank my physio for keeping me fit for these two tournaments. It was tough for me on Tuesday and Wednesday," he said.

The triumph was a morale-boosting jinx-breaker for Srikanth, who had lost all his previous five encounters to Long.

"I'm just happy to be doing well for now," he said.