US Open Badminton: Manu-Sumeeth lose in men's doubles finals

New York: Their dreams of a maiden Grand Prix gold title ended up in smoke after Indian men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy suffered a straight-game loss in the finals of the US Open badminton tournament.

The world number 26 Indian pair played some brilliant badminton last week to reach a Grand Prix final for the first time but they failed to get it across Chinese duo of Junhui Li and Yuchen Liu 12-21 16-21 in a 32-minute match.

Manu and Sumeeth blew a 6-2 lead in both the first and second game to eventually lose the match.

In the first game, Manu and Sumeeth opened up a 3-0 lead early on and then extended it to 6-2 but the Chinese pair clawed back at 8-8 before turning the tables at 11-8.

The Indian pair blasted four straight points to once again wrest back a slender lead at 12-11 but they completely lost the plot after that as Junhui and Yuchen reeled off 10 straight points to earn the bragging rights.

In the second game, Manu and Sumeeth once again led 6-2 early on but Junhui and Yuchen broke off at 8-8 even as the Indian pair crumbled.

PTI