India surprise Malaysia, bag badminton honours
GOLDCOAST: DESPITE having some good singles players, India had never won the team event in badminton at the Commonwealth Games. Their glory has been restricted to singles wins achieved by the likes of Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi, Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap.
But on Monday, India set right that anomaly as the team defeated Malaysia 3-1 in the final to win the gold medal. Nehwal sealed victory with an exciting victory against Soniia Cheah of Malaysia in women’s singles after Malaysia had threatened a comeback by winning the men’s doubles clash.
Saina won the first game 21-11 but she committed some errors towards the middle of the second game and allowed Soniia to take it 21-19. However, India could not be denied their hour of glory as Saina came back strongly in the decider to win it 21-9 and seal victory.
The mixed doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa gave India a superb start when they came back from a second game slump to overcome Peng Soon Chang and Liu Ying Goh 21-14, 15-21, 21-15. The good opening seemed to give Kidambi Srikanth the confidence to register his first win against Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei.
The Malaysian, a former World No 1 and silver medalist in the last three Olympic Games, did not look sharp as Srikanth kept him under pressure and didn’t allow him to dictate terms. As Lee committed mistakes, he capitalised on them to score a 21-17, 21-14 win.
The Malaysian men’s doubles combination of V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan pulled back one point by winning 21-15, 22-20, setting stage for a thrilling women’s clash between Saina and Soniia that the Indian eventually won to seal India’s 3-1 triumph.