Commonwealth Games 2022: India beat Singapore to reach final of mixed team badminton, assured of at least silver
Winning the contest 3-0 in the second semi-final of the event, India, who will face Malaysia in the final, have assured themselves at least a silver at CWG 2022.
Defending champions India stormed into the final of the Mixed Team event in badminton as they convincingly beat Singapore in the semi-final tie on Day 4 of the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. Winning the contest 3-0 in the second semi-final of the event, India, who will face Malaysia in the final, have assured themselves at least a silver at CWG 2022. The men's doubles pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty opened the account with a straight-game win before world No.7 PV Sindhu emulated the same in her women's singles tie. India eventually stuttered wrapped up the contest in style with Lakshya Sen beating world champion Loh Kean Yew in the men's singles tie. (Commonwealth Games 2022 Live Day 4)
Satwik and Chirag looked in complete dominance against the Singapore pair of Yong Kai Terry Hee and Andy Jun Liang Kwek in the men's doubles tie winning the tie 21-11, 21-12. They got India off to a flying start in both the games and looked in no discomfort. The Singapore pair, though outperformed in the opening game, did try to put Satwik and Chirag under pressure early on in the second game, but the Indian duo were solid in defence and grabbed every opportunity offered to give the team an early lead.
Sindhu then consolidated India's lead with a indomitable 21-11, 21-12 win against Jia Min Yeo, who was once considered the next big name in women's singles. The crosscourt plays and change of pace worked superbly in favour of the Indian in the tie which the team go 2-0 up.
The highlight of the Mixed Team Event was although the men's singles tie between Lakshya and world champion Loh Kean. The 20-year-old started slow in the opening game but with outstanding display of defence, he bounced back strongly to win nine consecutive points on the trot and take home the game 21-18. The second game was see-saw affair with Lakshya playing catch up until he grabbed a slender one-point lead at interval, but looked in complete dominance in the later half, drawing error after error from his opponent at the net as he won the game 21-15.
India will now face Malaysia in the final on Tuesday. The team had defeated their Asian counterpart 3-1 in the final in 2018 CWG final in Gold Coast.
The Indian contingent presently have a medals tally of eight comprising three gold, three silver and two bronze.
