Indian badminton star Kidambi Srikanth defeated Jason Teh Jia Heng of Singapore 21-15, 21-18 to win bronze in the men’s singles event at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
The Singaporean grimaced in pain after suffering cramps on his left thigh in the second game but still kept fighting till the end.
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Srikanth said he was happy to return with a medal after losing the semifinals. “I came thinking that I can win the gold but it didn’t go the way I thought. After winning the first game, I was leading 19-18 (semifinals), probably if I had scored the next point, things would have been different. But yes, I’m happy that at least I was able to win a medal," he told PTI. “It was such a tough outing. After almost winning the semi-final and losing it from a point to come back and play for a bronze, it’s been tough and exhausting. I just wanted to win the medal.
“It’s a big event. Nobody wants to give up easily after coming this far, everybody knows one-two points can change the moment. It was about staying focused and score next three-four points. I was not thinking about anything else."
Earlier in the day, World championships silver medallist Kidambi had suffered a 21-13, 19-21, 10-21 defeat against 42nd-ranked Tze Yong NG in the other men’s singles semifinal.
PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty reached the finals in their respective categories after winning their semifinals at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
World No 7 Sindhu sailed into the final of the women’s singles with a hard-fought 21-19, 21-17 win over Singapore’s world No 19 Yeo Jia Min at National Exhibition Centre.
It will be Sindhu’s second straight CWG final. She was beaten for gold by Saina Nehwal at Gold Coast in 2018. The Indian ace also has a CWG bronze medal from 2014.
The 27-year old will take on world No 13 Michelle Li of Canada in the final on Monday to complete the set of medals at the Commonwealth Games. The Indian shuttler has beaten the Canadian in both the matches they have played this year in straight games.
On the other hand, India’s highest-ranked men’s badminton player Lakshya Sen won 21-10, 18-21, 21-16 in the men’s singles semifinal against Jia Heng Teh.
The victory against the Singaporean confirmed Lakshya’s progress into the final and ensured him of at least a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The 20-year-old will take the court against Tze Yong NG in the men’s singles gold medal match.
Meanwhile, Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the world no 7 men’s doubles pair, won 21-6, 21-15 against Malaysian opposition to progress into the final and assured at least a silver medal at the CWG 2022.
Young Indian women’s doubles pair of Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were beaten in straight games in the semifinal by 11th-ranked pair Koong Le Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah. The Indian duo had won convincingly in the previous two rounds at Birmingham 2022.
However, Jolly and Gopichand will have an opportunity to end their campaign in style by winning the bronze medal, later tonight.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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