CWG 2022: PV Sindhu strikes gold

A gold medal from a major multidiscipline Games is finally hanging around PV Sindhursquos neck There was no overthetop emotion but the pure joy of finally lsquoclosing itrsquo was evident as she threw her hands up thanked the crowd with folded hands and then went to her coach Park Tae Sang and gave him a big hug Sindhu beat Canadian Michelle Li 2115 2113 in 48 minutesSatwik Rankireddy right and Chirag Shetty celebrate beating Englandrsquos Ben Lane and Sean Vardy in the menrsquos doubles finalSoon after Sindhursquos win and medal presentation Lakshya Sen rallied from a game down to overcome Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia 1921 219 2116 in a little over 70 minutes as India won both the menrsquos and womenrsquos singles at a CWG for the first time And finally playing with a mission to wipe out the memories of their loss in the mixed team finals Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty outplayed their English opponents Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 2115 2113 to get India their third badminton goldAlso Read CWG 2022 TT Sharath Kamal clinches gold in mens singlesBronze for SrikanthLate on Sunday Kidambi Srikanth won the menrsquos singles bronze beating Singaporersquos Jia Heng Teh 2115 2118 while the pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand registered a 20 win over Australiarsquos Wendy HsuanYu Chen and Gronya Somerville 2115 2118 ldquoI still havenrsquot spoken to my mom and dad They must be thrilled I canrsquot wait to be with themrdquo said Sindhu speaking to the media here immediately after the medal ceremonyAn ecstatic Lakshya Sen after winning gold at BirminghamFor Lakshya it felt like a dream ldquoAs a kid I would dream of playing the All England Thomas Cup and the Commonwealth Games because Prakash Padukone Sir had been the first to win it So to be able to win the CWG gold is like a dream I speak to him after every tournament and will do that againrdquo said Lakshya who trains at Padukonersquos academy in BangaloreIf Malaysia have found a rising star in Tze Yong who is just 21 India have a super star in the making in Lakshya 20 who engaged with the crowd wonderfully After the winning point he first threw his racquet then his wrist bands and finally his sweatsoaked shirt into the crowd who loved it and will look forward to welcoming him when he returns here for the All England next March The two finals were contrasting in that both Sindhu and Michelle LI were continuing a rivalry that began way back in 2014 Sindhu was playing her third CWG and Michelle her fourthContrasting finalsIn contrast both Lakshya and Tze Yong were making their CWG debuts and one can look forward to a long rivalry between the two who show so much variety in their play While Sindhu became only the second Indian woman to win the CWG Gold after twotime winner Saina Nehwal 2010 and 2018 Lakshya became the fourth Indian male to win the CWG singles after Prakash Padukone 1978 late Syed Modi 1982 and Parupalli Kashyap 2014Lakshyarsquos win also wiped away the two painful defeats Kidambi Srikanth suffered at the hands of the tenacious Ng Tze Yong The young Malaysian who came into the squad after their worldbeater Lee Zii Jia skipped the CWG to focus on the World Championships in Tokyo later this monthChange of fortunesFor Sindhu itrsquos a monkey off the back as the win ended a run of losses at major multidiscipline events finals that started from the 2016 Rio Olympics and carried on to 2018 CWG in Gold Coast and the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta She did not even have a gold from the South Asian Games having lost the final in 2016 in Shillong The gold also completed a full set of medals for Sindhu who had a bronze in at the 2014 CWG in Glasgow followed by silver at the Gold Coast 2018 where she lost the final to Nehwal Michelle was all praise for Sindhu ldquoIn the eight years since we first met at the 2014 CWG she has grown stronger and better and Irsquove had injuries I played well but she was much betterrdquo