World No.3 P.V Sindhu set up an all-Indian women's singles final with World No.12 Saina Nehwal in women's badminton competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games. In the men’s draw, Lee Chong Wei beat HS Prannoy in the second semifinal to set up a gold medal match against world number 1 Kidambi Srikanth.
While Sindhu thrashed Canada's Michelle Li in straight games 21-18, 21-8 in the semi-final, Saina overcame a stiff contest from Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour winning by 21-14, 18-21, 21-17, and set her date with her compartriot in the summit clash on Sunday.
Easy Win for Srikanth
World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth registered a 21-10, 21-17 straight games victory over England's Rajiv Ouseph to storm into the final.
After comfortably pocketing the first game in mere 12 minutes, the top-seeded Indian breezed away with a 11-8 lead midway into the second game.
After the breather, Rajiv somewhat managed to pull things back but the Indian was in no mood to take the match to the decider and brought his A game into play to close the contest within 19 minutes.
In the other semi-final, Lee Chong sailed through the first game, easily pocketing it in 23 minutes. But the Indian walked into the second game with a 9-3 lead before extending it further to 14-5.
Prannoy did not allow the Malaysian to bounce back and closed the game in mere 16 minutes to square things off. In the decider, Lee Chong found his groove back to take a 11-6 lead at the break but Prannoy managed to get back with four straight points to cut the deficit to 10-13. But from there, the Malaysian left no room for the Indian, getting three points on the trot to lead 16-10 and used his wealth of experience to pocket the contest 21-14 in 19 minutes.
Sindhu and Saina’s Semis
Sindhu started with a slender 11-10 lead midway into her first game against the Canadian, before extending to 14-11 and then to 19-15. The Indian, however allowed the Canadian to sneak in a few points towards the end but managed to wrest back the lead and clinch the tie in 22 minutes.
The second game witnessed a complete domination from the Rio Olympics silver medallist, breezing away with a 11-4 lead at the break before stretching her lead to 18-8 and eventually closing the contest in mere 14 minutes.
Earlier, London bronze medallist Saina defeated the World No.18 Scottish 21-14, 18-21, 21-17 in a pulsating semi-final contest that lasted for an hour and five minutes.
Saina opened up a 5-0 lead early in the first game before Kirsty managed to open her account to trail 8-11 midway. Coming back, there was no stopping the Indian who raced to a 17-13 lead before closing the game in 21 minutes.
The second game also started on similar lines with Saina opening up with a 4-0 lead before stretching it further to 11-3 at the breather. Saina continued her domination in the second half but Kirsty came back strongly to square things at 15-15.
From there on, Kirsty never looked back and managed to lead for the first time at 18-17 before closing the game in 23 minutes.
In the decider, Saina gathered herself to surge ahead with a 7-2 lead before Kirsty reduced the deficit to trail 7-11 midway. Coming back, Saina never allowed the Scottish girl to settle down and closed the affair in 24 minutes.
Ponnappa-Reddy Win Bronze in Doubles
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy bagged the bronze medal in women's doubles beating Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville.
The Indian duo prevailed in straight games 21-19, 21-19, in a 47-minute crunch match at the Carrara Sports Arena.
Later, Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwik Rankireddy lost a thrilling match to Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh. They went down 19-21, 19-21 to the Malaysians in the mixed doubles bronze medal match.
HS Prannoy Loses Bronze Medal Match
HS Prannoy lost to England's Rajiv Ouseph in the men's singles bronze medal match. The World Number 11 Prannoy started on a positive note, winning the first game 21-17 at the Carrara Sports Arena.
However, World Number 22 Rajiv made a brilliant comeback in the next two games to beat Prannoy 25-23, 21-9 in the hour-long marathon match.
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