India vs Singapore semifinal, Badminton mixed team event
Summary: India thumps Singapore 3-0 to set up a repeat of the 2018 summit clash with Malaysia. The final will be played on August 2 at 10PM IST.
Third match - Lakshya Sen beats Loh Kean Yew 21-18, 21-15
- SECOND GAME
- 21-15:Defending champion India is into the gold medal match with an utterly dominant 3-0 win over Singapore and it is a young Lakshya Sen who is at the centre stage with the winning kill hitting reigning world champion.
- 20-15: Five match points for Lakshya. Loh Kean Yew’s net shots have not worked at all.
- 19-14: Body kill from Lakshya. Finish line is in sight.
- 17-13: Champion stuff from Lakshya against the world champion. Gave Loh no chance to hit a winning smash and the Singaporean eventually makes the error with the net shot.
- 15-13: A careless attempted net shot from Loh. Gifted that point away.
- 14-12: Loh is trying to muscle his way back into this game and how! A powerful down-the-line smash.
- 12-11: A blistering cross-court smash from Loh Kean Yew and Lakshya barely gets his racquet on the shuttle.
- 11-10: Lakshya’s cross-court lift is wide courtesy of the drift.
- 11-9: Lakshya has a slender lead at the mid-game interval after initially leading 8-3.
- 9-8: A poor net shot from Loh and Lakshya breathes a sigh of relief. He needed that point.
- 8-8: Loh is into his element now. The speed has increased and Lakshya seems to be struggling with that.
- 8-5: Loh is slowly chipping away at Lakshya’s lead. Cross-court smash from Loh leaves Lakshya on the floor in his effort to retrieve.
- 7-3: Loh ends Lakshya’s run of five points in a row with an easy kill.
- 6-2: Four points on the trot for Lakshya.
- 4-2: Short lift from Loh and Lakshya has no problem in burying the shuttle into the court with a jump smash.
- 3-2: Lakshya judges the lift from Loh correctly yet again. Shuttle lands beyond the baseline.
- 2-0: Lakshya begins second game by winning the opening two points.
- FIRST GAME
- 21-18: On the third time of asking, Lakshya delivers. India is one game away from a place in the gold medal match against Malaysia which beat England 3-0 in the other semifinal.
- 20-18: Loh defends well and forces Lakshya to look for the winner. The Indian goes for a cross-court smash but misses the line.
- 20-17: Blistering attack from Loh to save first game point. Short lift from Lakshya and the world champion was already into position for a cross-court jump smash.
- 20-16: Loh hits wide and Lakshya has four game points.
- 19-14: Brilliant judgement from Lakshya. Loh’s lift lands beyond the baseline.
- 16-11: Loh hits a brilliant cross-court smash to reduce the gap to five points.
- 10-10: Scores are level after Loh hits one long.
- 8-10: Loh continues to lead after a long rally. Lakshya believes Loh has hit it long and wants to review but the umpire says it’s too late.
- 5-6: Lakshya casts a doubt on Loh’s mind with a shot to the deep. Loh attempts a shot at the last moment and slaps it straight to the net.
- 2-5: Lakshya aims to take control with an overheard smash but drags it wide.
- 0-4: Loh keeps Lakshya on his toes with some brilliant, swift returns.
- 0-1: An excellent rally to start the game and Loh’s pace beats Sen for the first point.
Second match - P V Sindhu beats Jia Min Yeo 21-11, 21-12
- SECOND GAME
- 21-12: PV Sindhu raises India’s lead to 2-0 with a 21-11, 21-12 win!
- 20-12: Match point for Sindhu.
- 17-9: Fantastic return from Sindhu after being forced to stretch forward. Leo’s return hits flush on the net.
- 14-8: A couple of delicate drop shots between the pair, each earning a point.
- 12-6: Yeo draws Sindhu forward and across the court, hoping for a shot to the deep but it falls past the back service line.
- 9-5: Yeo attempts to claw back but Sindhu continues to pin her to the deep and unleashes another overhead smash.
- 7-2: Sindhu continues to cut directions swiftly and once again beats Jia Min Yeo with a diagonal shot.
- 4-1: Jia MIn Yeo is stunned by Sindhu’s manic overhead smash.
- 2-0: Sindhu races to a 2-0 lead.
- FIRST GAME
- 21-11: Sindhu takes the first game to go 1-0.
- 20-11: Yeo manages to save a couple of game points.
- 17-8: Yeo sets up the point but sprays the final cross-court net shot wide.
- 15-7: The drift is really hurting Yeo. Yet again, the shuttle gets carried into the side alleys.
- 12-7: Yeo decides to go down the line with the smash this time, Sindhu is ready for it and easily returns cross-court.
- 11-7: Yeo resumes the game with a cross-court smash.
- 11-6: Five-point lead for Sindhu at the halfway stage.
- 9-6: Down the line smash from Yeo finds the line.
- 7-4: Comfortable cross-court net shot for Sindhu. Stops the Singaporean shuttler’s run of three points in a row.
- 6-3: Excellent couple of drop shots from Yeo to reduce the gap.
- 4-1: Three points on the trot for Sindhu.
- 0-1: Yeo wins the opening point as Sindhu completely misses the shuttle midway through the rally.
First match - Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty beats Yong Kai Terry/Andy Jun Liang (21-11, 21-12)- men’s doubles
- SECOND GAME
- 21-12The two showed as to why they are the Thomas Cup winners!
- 20-12 Ranki Reddy damages his racquet, but India still gets match point.
- 18-11 Terry reads the shot well. He anticipates Satwik’s shot and smashes hard
- 17-10 Match is stopped mid way as the taping comes out and re-taping takes place.
- 15-10 A brilliant rally but the smashes by Chirag in the mid-court prove too hard for the Singaporeans.
- 14-8 Terry hits one onto the net as India lead.
- 12-8 A flick by Terry, but Chirag returns it near the net with a straight shot.
- 11-8 CHALLENGE ASKED BY SINGAPORE, BUT LOSE AS IT LANDED OUTSIDE THE SIDELINE
- 10-7 Shetty takes charge he smashes past the Singapore pair
- 8-7 Terry’s accurate backhand makes it hard for Chirag as he moves his racquet missing the shuttle
- 6-6 Indians narrow the gap with their superior performance
- 4-6 Singaporeans take charge this game as they make a comeback as Indians make errors
- 3-3 The shuttle goes outside the baseline as the Singaporeans get two consecutive points
- 1-2 Singaporeans draw first blood but Indians get two consecutive points
- FIRST GAME-
- 21-11: THE SATWIK-CHIRAG DUE WINS THE FIRST GAME WITH MUCH EASE
- 19-11 Shetty attempts a drop shot as the shuttle goes outside the base line.
- 18-9 Liang is unable to deal with consecutive smashes from Satwik and the shuttle goes out.
- 16-9 Terry leads the Singaporean attempt to counter-attack as Singaporeans minimize the Indian lead .
- 15-6 “Let’s go India” reverberates throughout the crowd as India take lead.
- 13-4 Satwik’s smash to the mid-court is hard to return as India take charge.
- 11-4 And just like that India leads in the first game.
- Satwik’s smash proves to be hard for the Singaporean as they are unable to return it.
- 7-3 Chirag makes a rookie service mistake, however India still lead.
- 7-2 Reddy takes over as India lead.
- 3-0 India earns three points on a trot as Chirag and Satwik get better of the Singaporean pair.
We are 15 minutes away from the semifinal, folks. Can India repeat the 2018 triumph? India beat Singapore 3-1 in the semifinal back then on its way to gold.
Under an hour to go for the semifinal - a repeat of the 2018 CWG semi - where India emerged victorious. Here is a look at the line-ups.
- Yong Kai Terry/Andy Jun Liang vs Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty - men’s doubles
- Jia Min Yeo vs PV Sindhu - women’s singles
- Kean Yew Log vs Lakshya Sen - men’s singles
- Yujia Jin/Jia Ying Crystal vs Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand - women’s doubles
- Yong Kai Terry/Jessica Wei Han vs Satwik Sairaj/Ashwini Ponappa - mixed doubles
PREVIEW
Defending champion India cruised to a 3-0 win over South Africa to progress to the semifinals of the mixed team competition at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
India expectedly didn’t put a foot wrong as it dished out yet another professional performance against South Africa to set up a likely clash with Singapore in the last four.
Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy, who had started playing together for less than a year and topped the selections trials to make it to the team, started the proceedings with a facile 21-9 21-11 win over Jarred Elliott and Deidre Jordaan to hand India a 1-0 lead.
It was a no contest as the 857th ranked pair looked cluelessly at the booming smashes of Ashwini as the Indian combination took just minutes to end its misery.
World championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen then looked in complete control as he gave a badminton lesson to Caden Kakora, an opponent ranked 355th in the world.
The 20-year-old from Almora wrapped up things 21-5 21-6, converting a whopping 16 match points with a whipping body smash to put India 2-0 ahead.
Young Aakarshi Kashyap then took the court against world number 147 Johanita Scholtz, who played a few good-looking shots to get to double figures.
However, Kashyap was always a step ahead as she made her move around the court and used her deception to good effect to prevail 21-11 21-16 as India won the fixture 3-0.
India will next face Singapore, who had returned empty handed from the last edition four years ago and would be eager to prove their mettle this time.
Led by world champion Loh Kean Yew, ranked 9th in the world, Singapore have some quality players such as world number 19 Yeo Jia Min who had reached the BWF World Tour Finals last year.
Singapore’s men’s and mixed doubles pairings are ranked 44th and 36th in the world and it will be an interesting contest even though India will be the favourites.
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