India sealed the mixed team badminton final spot for just the second time in the history of the Commonwealth Games with a 3-1 victory over Singapore in the semi-finals on Sunday.
Singapore, who had defeated India in the bronze medal play-off in Glasgow four years ago by winning all the three doubles rubbers, were relying on the paired events again to keep the Indians at bay.
But the Indians surprised them in the mixed doubles clash and then singles stars Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal registered convincing wins to seal the final spot.
(Super Sunday at CWG: Follow all the events of day four on our live blog)
World number 57 mixed doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy gave the Indians a rousing start beating Yong Hee and Jia Wong 22-20, 21-18 in 42 minutes.
The Indian pair was off to an explosive start and were leading their opponents 19-11 in the first game before the scratch combination of Hee and Wong found back. They managed to save three game points before Satwik and Ponnappa managed to close out the game.
The second was a much closer affair with no pair managing to open up a big lead but the Indians ensured that they were always ahead of their challengers and pocketed the match on the second match point when Hee’s lift went out.
Srikanth stretched
World No 2 Kidambi Srikanth then doubled India’s lead by quelling the challenge of the spirited Kean Yew Loh 21-17, 21-14 in the men’s singles rubber.
The 25-year-old was the run away favourite in the match against an opponent ranked 223 places below the Indian but Loh proved that he is far better than his ranking as he displayed a wide array of shots to fight back from 16-10 to level scores at 17-17 in the first game.
But Srikanth had too much firepower as he used the cross court smash and drop to great effect to take five straight points and pocket the game.
The Indian was slow to get off the block in the second game as Loh raced to a 10-5 lead before Srikanth clinched eight straight points to regain the advantage at 13-10 and then sealed the win in 37 minutes.
Chirag-Satwik lose
If India hoped to seal the match 3-0, it did not happen as the men’s doubles combination of Chirag Shetty and Satwik ran out of steam in the third game to lose 17-21, 21-19, 21-12 against Hee and Danny Chrisnanta in 53 minutes.
The world No 21 combination began on a strong note winning the opening game with relative ease but were always playing catch up in the second game.
They did well to level the scores at 16-16 with three straight points and later saved two game points from 17-20 but could not avoid a decider.
In the decider, both Shetty and Satwik made many unforced errors and the latter looked a bit tired given that he had played the mixed doubles match earlier in the day.
Clinical Nehwal
However, World Championship bronze medallist Nehwal ensured that there were no further hiccups as she hammered Jia Min Yao 21-8, 21-15.
The 28-year-old was in total control through out the opening game and though she seemed to have relaxed a bit in the second, the result was never in doubt.
India will now face the winner of the second semifinal between Malaysia and England for a shot at the mixed team event gold for the first at the Commonwealth Games.
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