CWG 2022: Its Shimmery Closure for PV Sindhu; Completes Hat-trick of Medals

PV Sindhu claimed India’s first gold medal in Badminton on the 11th Day of the CWG 2022 which is also her first women’s singles CWG Gold medal. Etching her name in the badminton history books, Sindhu completed a hattrick of medals at the Games with a win over Michelle Li of Canada. With a score of 21-15, 21-13 the ace shuttler was dominant throughout the match.

The former world champion, who was a bit unusually animated right from the beginning of the gold-medal match, helped herself to a 4-2 lead. The Canadian, however, made a quick comeback with back-to-back points. That Sindhu wasn’t at all interested in letting Michelle engage her in long rallies was evident when she played a down-the-line smash at the Canadian’s serve at 6-6.

Sindhu was on a roll after getting to double figures. She won six straight points to make 15-8 and run away with a lead that was always going to be extremely difficult for anyone let alone Michell to cover. The Canadian world number 13, tried her best to make a comeback with a couple of nifty manoeuvres that had served her well in the semi-final against Scotland, but at 17-14 in her favour, Sindhu found an outrageous angle off her backhand to douse all of Michelle’s hopes.

Sindhu has now bettered the medal colour in all her three CWG attempts. On Monday, the two-time Olympic medallist beat the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion in straight games (21-15, 21-13) to clinch India’s 19th top of the podium finish at CWG 2022.