BIRMINGHAM, Aug 7: Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu stayed on course for an elusive gold medal while Lakshya Sen regained his rhythm just in time to enter his maiden final at the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.
Sindhu rode on her superior technical superiority to outwit Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min 21-19 21-17 in a 49-minute contest to reach her second successive final.
In the following match, world number 10 Sen lost his way after a dominating start against 87-ranked Jia Heng Teh of Singapore. Sen however recovered to complete a 21-10, 18-21, 21-16 win in the men’s singles semifinals.
Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ensured a third gold medal match for India on Monday when they downed Malaysia’s Chen Peng Soon and Tian Kian Men 21-6, 21-15 to reach the men’s doubles final.
It could have been an all-Indian men’s final but an error-prone Kidambi Srikanth squandered a first game advantage to lose to lower-ranked Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia 21-13, 19-21, 21-10. The world number 42 Tze had shocked reigning world champion Yew Kean Loh of Singapore in the quarterfinal.
The last edition’s silver medallist will now fight for bronze and so will the Indian women’s doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichane who lost to the Malaysian combine of Thinnah Muralitharan and Pearly Koon Le Tan in the semi-finals in straight games.
In the first men’s singles semi-final, Sen was stretched by his Singaporean opponent. He relied on relentless attack to put his Singaporean opponent on the backfoot and he was able to do that in the first game which he led 1-0.
Sen built an 11-7 lead in the decider. He got four points and converted the first one with a deft drop shot that set up a backhand winner.
Earlier, Sindhu was clearly the better player on display as she kept a firm grip on the match.
It turned into a seesaw battle in the second game, but Sindhu ensured she had her nose ahead at the interval.
A wide return and one going to net put Sindhu two points away from the final. She squandered two match points out of five before unleashing a pitch-perfect body smash to secure her place in the final. (PTI)
