Kidambi Srikanth Grabs Struggling Silver in CWG.
The reigning champions were in trouble in the final after Srikanth’s three-game loss to lower-ranked Tze Yong Ng.
In the mixed team badminton competition at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, Kidambi Srikanth delivered a lacklustre showing as India lost to Malaysia 1-3 and settled for silver.
In three games, the defending champions were caught on the back foot in the championship match when Srikanth fell to lower-ranked Tze Yong Ng.
While the men’s doubles team of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost the opening doubles, PV Sindhu performed as predicted in the women’s singles.
Malaysia reclaimed the championship they had lost to India in Gold Coast four years prior with the victory. However, the outcome of the men’s doubles match between Rankireddy and Shetty and the team that won the bronze medal in the Olympics, Teng Fong Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh, was crucial for India to keep the gold. India’s weaker areas were the women’s and mixed doubles; therefore, the team had to rely on the men’s doubles and the two singles to win. Long and winding rallies were typical in the opening match, but Reddy and Shetty lost most of them because they couldn’t keep up with the fiercely aggressive Malaysian duo. In contrast to the Indians, the Malaysian fans this time made more noise, giving Chia and Soh tremendous encouragement. The Malaysians prevailed after a spirited contest 21-18, 21-15 to give their side a 1-0 lead. Goh Jin Wei, rated 60th overall, made things exceedingly difficult for the world number seven in the women’s singles, which two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu anticipated to win easily. Sindhu had an 11-6 advantage in the opening game, but Goh appeared to change after the break. She used her expert net play to make the former world champion sprint around the court. Goh made a robust comeback to control the game to the end.
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#India #PV Sindhu #Prasidh #Krishna #Badminton #Commonwealthgames