CWG 2018: Kidambi bags silver, Malaysia's Lee wins gold
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth bagged a silver medal in men's singles summit clash at 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast today. He was squashed in an utterly dominating manner by Malaysia's three-time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei. Srikanth beat Lee in the mixed team championships final earlier in the Games. He has two more mixed team gold medals to his credit. Here's more.
The World No. 7 Lee Chong Wei marked his final appearance at the CWG by coming back from defeat in the first game to beat Srikanth 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 in the finals. Crucial to this was forcing the decider with a dominant second game in which he repeatedly left his opponent struggling to retrieve the shuttle and looking bereft of ideas.
But it was not all smooth sailing for Lee today as Srikanth started off confidently. It took Srikanth just eight minutes to go from being 0-4 down to be 10-7 ahead. The Indian was the better of the two in executing drop shots and even managed to match Lee's ability to mix power with precision. Srikanth led 11-9 at the break.
Srikanth remained a step ahead until 14-13 before a misdirected smash gave Lee the equalizing point. But Lee was surprisingly off when it came to retrieving the shuttle and his usual agility on the court was only there in flashes. To Srikanth's credit, he made the most of his fancied opponent's lack of intensity and took the first game 21-19 in the 25 minutes.
Leading 9-5 in the decider, Lee went for a change of racket and it only got him better results as he grabbed an 11-5 lead to take the psychological upper hand. The smashes that were landing outside in the opening game became just the bit accurate and difficult for the Indian to retrieve. Lee exhibited poor judgment in leaving a shuttle while leading 16-8.
