India won three out of three gold medals in badminton on the final day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham on Sunday.
India won its first gold through shuttler PV Sindhu in the women’s singles. The Hyderabadi got the better of Michelle Li of Canada 2-0 to claim her first CWG gold medal.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen showed grit and superb mental character to win a gold in the men’s singles as he beat Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia 2-1 in the summit clash. The gold is even more special as this is Lakshya’s debut CWG campaign.
Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made it three out of three for India as they overcame England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15, 21-13 to grab gold in the men’s doubles final.
India thus finished a fantastic badminton campaign in Birmingham with three gold, one silver and two bronze.
The silver came in team championship and the bronze medals were won by Kidambi Srikanth in the men's singles and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the women's doubles.
Maiden CWG Gold for Sindhu
Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu won her maiden CWG gold medal in women's singles badminton defeating Michelle Li of Canada in straight sets.
The 27-year-old Indian looked like she was on a mission from the word go in the gold medal match and raced her way to a 21-15, 21- victory against the World No 13.
Li never really threatened the World No 7 during the match and cut a desperate figure by the fag end of the summit clash. With this gold, Sindhu now has five Commonwealth Games medals to her name.
Gold for Lakshya in Debut CWG Campaign
It was a golden finish for India's Lakshya Sen in his debut Commonwealth Games campaign as he beat Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia 2-1 in the men's singles badminton final.
After a nervous first set loss, the 20-year-old Indian shuttler showed excellent resilience and mental strength to outsmart the World No 42 21-19, 9-21, 16-21.
Golden Finish for Satwik-Chirag Duo
Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of England 21-15, 21-13 to clinch gold in the men’s doubles badminton final.
With the gold win, the Indian pair have now bettered their display from 2018 CWG, where they finished runners-up in the final.
The right-handed duo from India put on a dominant display right from the start to finish against the home favourites. Satwik and Chirag also acheived the rare honour of being the first Indian duo to win gold in men's at the Commonwealth Games.
(With inputs from PTI)
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