Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty win gold medal in badminton men’s doubles

Birmingham, Aug 8 (IANS) India’s men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Monday won the gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games after defeating England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15 and 21-13.

Through their straight-sets victory in the gold-medal match, Satwik and Chirag added another Commonwealth Games medal to their kitty after the silver medal in the last Games in 2018 Gold Coast. They also became the first Indian pair to claim the gold medal in men’s doubles category at the Commonwealth Games.

The victory also meant that India has now won three gold medals and sixth overall in badminton at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Earlier on Monday, ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu and rising youngster Lakshya Sen clinched the gold medal in women’s singles and men’s singles competitions respectively.

Satwik and Chirag were part of the Indian team that won the historic Thomas Cup title earlier this year in Bangkok. They were also a part of the mixed team event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where India finished with a silver medal after losing to Malaysia in the final.

The match was off to a tight 5-5 start in the first set. But from there, it was one-way traffic as Satwik and Chirag began to dominate the England duo, forcing them to run out of ideas and take the first set 21-15.

In the second set, just like the first set, things were even at 7-7. But Satwik and Chirag took a slender lead at the mid-game interval with 11-10 in the second set.

From there, the Indian duo built their lead quickly as the local England duo had no answers to questions asked by Satwik and Chirag. Eventually, Satwik and Chirag sealed the second set at 21-13 to fetch India their third successive gold medal from badminton on a medal rush Monday. – IANS