Creating history, India claims maiden badminton mixed team gold at Commonwealth Games

Gold Coast, April 10: India is on cloud nine, and why not? The Indian shuttlers have been on fire here. The shutters came up with another superb display on Monday gifting the country its first ever gold medal in the mixed team event with an impressive 3-1 win over defending champion Malaysia.

The attempts since 1998 in Kuala Lumpur have not been successful, but at the XXI Commonwealth Games, India finally tasted success and that too without trying its best player, P.V. Sindhu at any stage.

 

The burden was on Saina Nehwal to get the side to victory and she was true to her caliber. Displaying a good start India began well through the pair of R. Satwick and Ashwini Ponnappa, who despite being pushed, notched up a 21-14, 15-21, 21-15 win over Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh.

Then K. Srikanth defeated Lee Chong Wei in straight sets. The top-ranked Indian was pitted against the Malaysian star for the first time in almost three years and had never won against him. But this evening, it turned out to be a one-sided affair in favour of the Indian, whose attacking game had Lee on the defensive.

Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei then walked out to a thunderous applause to face Srikanth next but it wasn't meant to be his day despite the arena resonating with the chants of his name. The Indian, who has never beaten Lee on the circuit, was neck-and-neck with his rival before taking a 10-8 lead in the opening game.

The ever-so-elegant Lee was surprisingly off colour. As graceful as his on-court movement was, the strokes lacked accuracy as he took the lemon break trailing 8-11. The gap widened as the game progressed and it was quite a dampener for the sizeable Malaysian fans to watch their icon struggle.

Earlier, India has previously won the silver and bronze in the mixed team category in 2010 and 2006 editions of the Commonwealth Games. This is the first time the nation has won gold in this event.