Twitter was flooded with messages congratulating Indian badminton star Kidambi Srikanth after he defeated Olympic champion Chen Long in a convincing fashion to win the Australia Open Super Series men's singles title. Srikanth won the match in straight games, 22-20, 21-16 to win his career's fourth Super Series title.
Sachin Tendulkar was one of the big names who sent out a Tweet to congratulate the shuttler. Srikanth has also now sent out a heartwarming reply to the cricket legend on Twitter.
The ace shuttler has always been a self-professed Sachin fan and when they met last met ahead of the World Championships in 2015, he was told by Tendulkar that he would become world number one soon.
"I didn't get much time to talk to him but those 5-7 minutes that I spent with him, he told me that I will definitely become the World No. 1 someday, and it was a big thing coming from Tendulkar," Srikanth said about that meeting in 2015.
World no. 11 Srikanth recorded his second straight title win after he won the Indonesian Open Super Series Premier last week. Srikanth had finished the runner-up in the final of the Singapore Open in April. With this win, he became the sixth player in the world and the first Indian male badminton player to play in three consecutive Super Series finals.
Among other popular names who congratulated Srikanth were Amitabh Bachchan, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and former Indian opener Virender Sehwag. HS Prannoy tweeted as well.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced a cash reward of Rs.5 lakh for Srikanth.
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