Ruthvika stuns Sindhu

12th SAG: India makes clean sweep in badminton

SHILLONG: Ruthvika Shivani Gadde created the biggest upset of the badminton event at the 12th South Asian Games on Wednesday, stunning world No. 12 P V Sindhu in straight sets in the final of the women’s singles to clinch the gold medal even as India made a clean sweep bagging seven gold and five silver medals in the multinational event. Shivani, who made it to the final riding on a comfortable 21-5, 21-5 win over Nepal’s Nangsal Tamang, eased past the experienced Sindhu 21-11 in the first game. The second set brought the best out of both shuttlers, and despite trailing at one stage, Shivani rallied to take the set 22- 20 to create history. Emotions were flying high as the 131-ranked shuttler rejoiced her feat with almost teary eyes. “It’s my biggest achievement till now. I have never even beaten her in a single set till now. Very happy with what I have achieved here,” an elated Shivani said. The young Shivani dreams of breaking into the world top 5 someday. In an all India affair in the finals, India pocketed four more gold medals to take its badminton gold tally to a whopping seven. In women’s doubles, the famed pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa eased past Mannesha Kukapalli and N Sikki Reddy without much fuss to bag the yellow metal. Though the higher ranked doubles duo was guilty of giving the opponents a chance to comeback in the second half, it did not have much impact on the final result which was 21-9, 21-17 in favour of Gutta/ Ponnappa. In men’s singles K Srikanth rallied from a game down to beat HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-14, 21-6. After the initial hiccup, India’s topranked shuttler among the men took control of the proceedings to register a comfortable 2-1 win and claim the gold. The men’s doubles pair of Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy also beat fellow Indians, Akshay Devalkar and Pranav Jerry Chopra 21-18, 21-17 to bag the top honours in their category. Devalkar and Chopra had put up a good shown in the second game and were leading 13-10 at one time but squandered the advantage and the match eventually. Chopra and Sikki Reddy won the mixed doubles competition after overcoming a strong challenge from Manu Atri and Ponnappa who went down 30-29, 21- 17. The epic first game was the longest of the event. The finals thus brought to an end what was a smooth sail for India both in the team’s and individual events. Remarkably, the Indians did not even drop a set until the final day when HS Prannoy trailed to Sri Lanka’s Sachin Dias in the first men’s singles semifinal of the day. In the round of four, Sri lanka’s Sachin Dias put up a spirited show but eventually succumbed to Prannoy who edged past 14-21, 21- 13, 21-16. The women’s doubles pair of Maneesha Kukapalli and N Sikki Reddy was also put to test by the Lankan duo of Achini Rathnasiri and Upuli Sumanthika who bagged the first game 21-12. The Indian pair, however, came back strong to take the next two sets 21-15, 21- 16 to reach the finals. Pakistan pairing of Kashif and Rizwan fought in what was one of the longest games of the event eventually going down to Akshay Dewalkar and Pranav Jerry Chopra 22-24, 16-21.