The concluding day wasn’t very bright for the rest of the Indian shuttlers in contention. K. Srikanth, the new World No. 1 among men, settled for a silver with a loss to Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. Lee took his chances and outplayed Srikanth with a ruthless display of strength and intelligence. He effected a comeback win — 19-21, 21-14, 21-4.
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Srikanth, unfortunately for India, began with a sequence of unforced errors and ended on the same note. He was down 5-0 before making his way up; he surprised his opponent with good retrievals and booming smashes. After taking the first set at 21-19, Srikanth was unable to sustain the momentum, particularly when Lee came charging. He accounted for a litany of unforced errors and committed silly mistakes in his attempt to prevail over Lee for the second time in six days. Lee eventually clinched his third Commonwealth Games singles title.
Defensive mistakes
Reflecting on his loss, Srikanth said: “When you are playing against such a great player, you have to be at your best, throughout the match. I started well by taking the first set but I made too many mistakes in my defence in the second and third. I gave him that early lead which I should have avoided.”
India’s men’s doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also finished with a silver medal. The two lost tamely to the English pair of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 21-13, 21-16 in the final.
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