Kidambi Srikanth lost against Chong Lee in CWG final. (Source: Reuters)
Kidambi Srikanth, who is the newly crowned World No. 1, went down in men’s singles final match against former World No. 1 Chong Lee Wei on Sunday, Day 11 of the Commonwealth Games, to settle for silver.
Malaysian legend Chong Wei, who claimed his third CWG gold on Sunday, dominated at the start and end to defeat the Indian shuttler 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 even though Srikanth, who had earlier beaten the Malaysian in the men’s singles clash of mixed doubles, took an early lead.
Srikanth, however, ensured that he gave a tough fight to the Malaysian, who has won two mixed team gold medals, before going down badly in the deciding game. Srikanth was 0-4 down at the start of the first game before making a comeback in eight minutes to take 11-9 lead at mid-game interval, after which Lee worked hard to equalise. But Srikanth took the first game in just 25 minutes.
@srikidambi u are still a champion for all of us srikanth. You gave your heart out. Congratulations ππππ
β sikkireddy (@sikkireddy) April 15, 2018
Proud of Kidambi Srikanth for bagging Silver in men’s singles at #GC2018Badminton Many congratulations
#PresidentKovindβ President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) April 15, 2018
The former World No. 1 Lee improved in his second game performance, which also saw a dramatic moment when LeeΒ had struck the shuttle twice to claim a point but was not penalised for it, despite Srikanth’s protest.
Lee was in complete form after the mid-game break in the second game as he sent smashes out of Srikanth’s reach to win points in the high-intensity match. Lee was the better man even the deciding game as he took 11-5 lead.
India now have a total of 65 medals, including 26 gold medals, 19 silver and 20 bronze.