Sweet Revenge! India beat Malaysia To Win Team Gold in Badminton

India have won their first-ever gold medal in the mixed team event of badminton at the Commonwealth Games.

Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Ashwini Ponnappa celebrate India’s victory in the mixed team badminton final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

(Photo: Reuters)

India’s 10th gold medal of the 2018 Commonwealth Games has come in badminton with Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles team winning their matches to defeat Malaysia 3-1 in the final.

It was sweet revenge for some members of the Indian team as Malaysia had beaten India in the team final of the 2010 Commonwealth Games at home. Malaysia in fact came into Gold Coast as the three-time defending champions.

This is India’s first-ever gold medal in the mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games.

I don’t think anybody in the team is going to sleep tonight. May be I will just relax tomorrow and then think about the singles.

Saina Nehwal

A Win in Mixed Doubles

The tie started with the mixed doubles match with Ashwini Ponappa and Satwik Rankireddy taking the court for India against Peng Soon and Liu Ying Goh.

The Indian pair raced to a quick 8-4 lead. The Malaysians narrowed it to 7-9 in no time showing better adeptness in attacking the net. But the Indians managed to stay ahead at 11-7 owing to their rivals' poor shot placement from the baseline.

Within no time, the Indians were 14-9 ahead, taking it to 17-11 eventually. While Satwik provided most of the brute force from the baseline, Ashwini's control stood out as they claimed the first game 21-14.

Goh and Chan bounced back to equalise in the second game but simply self-destructed in the deciding game with poorly executed strokes that made the Indians' job easy.

The final scoreline read 14-21, 21-15 and 21-15 to India.

Srikanth All Class in Men’s Singles

The toughest match-up of the draw would definitely have been this one. World number 2 Kidambi Srikanth was up against world number 4 and badminton legend Lee Chong Wei in the men’s singles tie. The players had faced off four times in the past with Chong Wei coming out on top each time.

The game started with the Malaysian looking the stronger of the two but Kidambi Srikanth soon came into the form that won him four Super Series titles last year. The match saw some classic rallies and great net-play with the Indian coming out on top most times.

The final scoreline read 21-17, 21-14 as the match finished in India’s favour in just 43 minutes.

Perhaps Lee was not at his best but then you can never be too sure against a player like him. You always have to be on your guard, which I was. And I also gave my best. I was not expecting it to be this easy.

Kidambi Srikanth

Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy of India during the men’s doubles match at 2018 CWG.(Photo: Reuters)

Defeat in Men’s Doubles

Chirag Chandrashekhar and Satwik Rankireddy had struggled to find form this past week and against the Malaysian duo of V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan the pair once again struggled. While they did put up a tough fight in the second game, the Malaysians closed the match in 38 minutes to a 21-15, 22-20 scoreline.

Saina Seals The Win

Saina Nehwal has been on a winning streak in Gold Coast so far and she didn't let the fans down on Monday either. Her opponent Cheah Soniia though did put up a tough fight in the match. Ranked 29th in the she took Saina to three sets but the Indian eventually came on top.

The final scoreline read 21-11, 19-21, 21-9.

It was exhausting, I actually lost focus during the match but thankfully managed to hold it together and ensure that the gold medal winning shot was mine. It is a medal that I will forever cherish, it is very special. Team gold is always way more cherishable.

Saina Nehwal