India sweeps Badminton events, wins five Gold medals

Colombo, Aug 18 (UNI) India made clean sweep at the badminton events of the 10th SAF Games, pocketing five individual Gold besides four Silver medals and a bronze at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium here today.

In the men's singles final, Chetan Anand braved a hamstring pull and beat compatriot Nikhil Kanetkar 21-14, 21-12 to win the Gold.

Chetan, put Nikhil into a straitjacket, denying the southpaw any leeway to play his natural aggressive game and won the match with clinical precision.

''I was bit worried with my hamstring but though there was strain, I could move well in the court. Nikhil loves to smash his way to win but today I didn't let him the chance and instead he was at the receiving end of my hits,'' Chetan said after the match.

''I had come with the belief that it would be a tough match but in the end, everything went smoothly and I'm happy with my show,'' he added.

In the women's singles, Trupti Murgunde shrugged off the initial inertia to tame compatriot BR Meeenakshi in the summit clash 21-17, 21-14. Meenakshi started with a bang but in the end, had to be satisfied with the Silver medal.

Trupti was trailing 8-15 before she raised her game to equalise, overtake and finally edge out Meenakshi in the first game.

Things were easier for her in the second game and Trupti led right from the beginning and her smash crashed into Meenakshi's body as she won the final point to clinch the Gold.

Later talking to UNI, Trupti admitted initially she was struggling in the middle.

''To be honest, I was not into the game for quite some time and Meenakshi was covering the court well. I was just going with the flow and hardly had any clue about what was going on there. But fortunately I found my rhythm before it was too late and there was no looking back since then,'' she explained.

Earlier, India won the first Gold in the mixed doubles event where V Diju teamed up with Jwala Gutta to tame the Thomas Kurien-Aparna Balan pair 21-11, 21-13 in yet another all-Indian final.

In the women's doubles final, Jwala teamed up with Shruti Kurien to beat Aparna and Meenakshi 18-21, 23-21, 21-12 to win the Gold medal.

In the men's doubles final, Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave chalked out an effortless 21-16, 21-10 win against the Sri Lankan pair of Tushara Eidiresinghe and Duminda Jayakodi to add to the tally.

In the same event the Indian pair of Akshay Diwalkar and Jishnu Sanyal won the Bronze.

UNI AY PM DS1225