Saina pitchforks India to second spot in Commonwealth
Games
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NEW DELHI: Women shuttlers led by singles
title-favourite Saina Nehwal provided India with a golden
double to pilot the country to a historic second-place finish
in the Commonwealth Games that ended on Thursday.
Saina rallied brilliantly from a first-game loss to put it
across Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in the
women's singles final after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa
had captured the doubles crown. |
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The men's hockey team crashed to a humiliating 0-8
defeat against world and defending champions Australia
in the final, but the two-gold final flourish in
badminton enabled India to rise to the second spot in
the medals tally with 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze
medals.
England, ahead of India going into the last day of the
Games, finished in third place with a total haul of
37-59-46 while Australia ended up in the top position
with a huge heist of 74-55-48.
The push for the second spot on the concluding day was
started by Jwala and Ashwini. The duo overwhelmed
Singapore's Sari Shanti Mulia and Yao Lei in straight
games to become India's first women's doubles pair to
win a gold medal in badminton.
The second-seeded Indian pair subdued their top-seeded
rivals 21-16, 21-19 by combining attack and defense in
the right mixture in front of the packed crowd at the
Siri Fort complex.
Then came Saina's crucial gold-winning effort that
pushed the country ahead of England, in their bitter
fight for the runner-up position in the Games.
The hosts clinched another medal, a bronze, in table
tennis when Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das prevailed in
the women's doubles bronze medal play-off against
Australian duo Tan Zed Vivian and Peri Campbell-Innes.
But in men's hockey gold medal-deciding clash, the
Indian team suffered one of their worst-ever defeats in
front of a huge crowd that included Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.
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