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Commonwealth Games: Shuttlers clinch 3rd gold for Malaysia

Malaysian shuttler Ng Tze Yong celebrates his win against India's Srikanth Kidambi in the mixed team final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Malaysian shuttler Ng Tze Yong celebrates his win against India's Srikanth Kidambi in the mixed team final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. (PHOTO: Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)

MALAYSIA clinched its third gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Tuesday (2 August), when its mixed badminton team defeated India 3-1 in the final at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

In doing so, the shuttlers also reclaimed the gold the had lost to their Indian counterparts at the 2018 Games in Gold Coast.

The first tie was the men's doubles match between Malaysia's world No.6 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik and India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who are just a spot below in the world rankings.

Despite the closeness in rankings, it turned out to be a comfortable win for Chia and Soh, who claimed the first point of the final 21-18, 21-15.

India held the advantage in the second tie, however, as world No.7 Pusarla V. Sindhu was the favourite to win the women's singles tie against Goh Jin Wei, ranked world No.60. And Sindhu made the advantage count, as she defeated Goh 22-20, 21-17 to level the final at 1-1.

India again held the rankings advantage in the following men's singles tie, as world No.13 Srikanth Kidambi faced Malaysia's world No.42 Ng Tze Yong.

The time, however, it was Ng who rose to the occasion to clinch a vital 21-19, 6-21, 21-16 victory to give Malaysia a 2-1 lead.

It was left to women's doubles pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan to seize the winning point, and they duly did, defeating Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela 21-18, 21-17 to seal the gold medal.

Malaysia has so far won three golds, two silvers and three bronze at the Birmingham Games.

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