Kidambi Srikanth wins men’s singles bronze at CWG after straight-game win over Singapore’s Jia Heng Teh
India’s star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched a bronze medal in the men’s singles event at the Commonwealth Games 2022 on Sunday.
Srikanth defeated Singapore’s Jia Heng Teh 21-15, 21-18 in straight games to secure a podium finish. This is Srikanth’s second singles medal at the Games (silver in 2018 Gold Coast), and fourth overall. Additionally, this is the Indian’s second medal at the ongoing Games; he had won a silver medal in the mixed team event as well.
Kidambi had a bright start to the match, winning eight successive points in the first game to take an early lead over the Singapore shuttler. In the second game, however, Jia displayed a stunning bit of fight and grit to battle cramps and completing the match.
On multiple occasions, the Jia urged for the match to be halted as he fought cramps on his thigh, and on one occasion, he was also yellow-carded by the chair umpire for delaying the proceedings.
However, Kidambi kept his cool at the other end and remained undeterred, as he defeated the Singaporean in straight sets.
Earlier in the day, Srikanth had conceded a stunning defeat to Malaysia’s Tze Young NG to go out of contention for a gold medal. After securing a 21-13 win in the first game, Srikanth lost a closely-fought second game 21-19 before the Malaysia eventually dominated Srikanth to win the decider 21-10.
On Monday, India will be eyeing a twin-finish at the podium as Lakshya Sen will be in action in the gold medal match. Additionally, star shuttler PV Sindhu will also be competing for gold in the women’s singles final while the men’s duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will eye a top podium finish in the men’s doubles event.
With Srikanth’s bronze, India’s overall medal tally rose to 51. India are currently 5th in the standings.