Lakshya Sen overcomes Yong to win men’s singles gold in Commonwealth Games 2022

The
Indian
beat
Tze
Yong
of
Malaysia
19-21,
21-9,
21-16
to
bag
the
gold.
This
was
India’s
second
badminton
gold
as
PV
Sindhu
had
won
the
women’s
singles
top
slot.

This
was
India’s
20th
gold
in
the
Commonwealth
Games
2022
at
Birmingham
and
also
the
country’s
201st
medal
in
the
CWG
history.

Sindhu
wins
gold

Earlier,
Sindhu
added
Commonwealth
Games
gold
to
her
crowded
trophy
cabinet
when
she
beat
Michelle
Li
of
Canada
in
straight
sets.

Sindhu
won
21-15,
21-13.
It
was
also
Sindhu’s
9th
career
win
over
the
Canadian
in
11
meetings.

Sindhu
had
a
slight
fitness
worry
coming
into
the
final
as
her
left
ankle
was
taped
heavily,
and
the
stress
was
visible
even
in
the
semi-final
clash.

In
the
first
game,
Sindhu
struggled
to
keep
her
rally
going
and
looked
for
shorter
rallies
to
claim
points.
But
as
the
game
and
match
wore
on,
Sindhu
regained
her
rhythm
and
flow.

On
many
points,
Li
gave
Sindhu
tough
competition
but
the
Indian
played
the
crucial
points
much
better
than
her
opponent
to
wrest
the
first
game
21-15.

In
the
second
game,
Sindhu
seemed
to
have
returned
to
her
absolute
best
and
displayed
a
vast
array
of
shots
including
that
brilliant
drop
shots.

There
was
a
hint
of
power
too
when
she
deployed
that
mighty
smashes
down
the
line
to
catch
Li
unawares.

The
former
World
champion
Sindhu,
who
also
owns
two
Olympic
medals,
literally
toyed
with
the
Canadian
in
the
second
set
and
opened
up
a
massive
lead
of
five
points
early
in
the
second
game.

The
Canadian
Li
tried
to
stay
along
with
Sindhu
cutting
down
the
lead
to
3
points
at
one
stage
but
Sindhu
did
not
allow
the
lead
to
further
narrow
as
she
again
widened
the
lead
to
5
points.

At
this
point,
Li
might
just
have
realised
the
futility
of
chasing
Sindhu
and
the
fight
seemed
to
have
ebbed
out.
The
spate
of
unforced
errors
too
did
help
her
cause.

Sindhu
soon
closed
out
the
match
for
her
first
Commonwealth
Games
gold
in
her
career.