Former world champion PV Sindhu won her first CWG gold medal in women's singles after beating Michelle Li of Canada 21-15, 21-13 in the final on Monday. This is also India’s 19th gold medal of the Birmingham Games.
Sindhu won the first game 21-15 and had a five-point lead at the mid-game break in the second game. Li struggled to find her range on the backcourt in the second game. The highlight of the match was an engrossing 57-stroke rally. Both players showed excellent defence but it was the Canadian who ultimately hit the winner.
But that was a rare silver lining for Li, who eventually lost the second game to Sindhu 13-21. The Tokyo bronze medallist sealed the match with a cross court smash.
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She already has a silver and a bronze in singles from the 2018 and 2014 editions.
Earlier, Sindhu beat Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min 21-19 21-17 in a 49-minute semifinal contest.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth and the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand signed off with bronze medals in badminton on Sunday.
Srikanth, a former world number one, prevailed over Singapore's world number 87 Jia Heng Teh 21-15 21-18 to claim a bronze medal to go with the silver that he had won four years ago in Gold Coast.
In the following bronze medal playoff, Treesa and Gayatri registered a 21-15 21-18 win over the world number 159 Australian pair of Wendy Hsuan-Yu Chen and Gronya Somerville to finish third on the podium in their first major event together as a combination.
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