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| Badminton at CWG: Focus on Sindhu but doubles key to India retaining mixed team gold | | |  agencies
NEW DELHI, July 21: Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also be under the spotlight as India aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.
Ever since Dinesh Khanna claimed India's first badminton medal-a bronze at the quadrennial event in 1966 -- the country has accumulated 25 medals, including seven golds, riding on individual brilliance.
In the last edition at Gold Coast, Indian players were on fire, claiming an unprecedented six medals, including two golds.
In the individual event, the coveted yellow metal will again be a target not only for double Olympic medallist Sindhu but also for world championships silver and bronze medallists Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen respectively.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy too will be keen to change the colour of the silver they won on their CWG debut in 2018.
However, more than individual medals, the focus this time will be on India's performance in the mixed team event.
At Gold Coast, a young Indian team had managed to pull the rug from under the feet of the mighty Malaysians to emerge as champions for the first time.
Overall, India still ranks third in the list of medallists with England (8-times winner) and Malaysia (5-time champions) taking the top two spots with 109 and 64 medals so far.
India thus has a long way to go to emerge as a dominant force but they would like to prove that 2018 was not a fluke as they open their campaign in Group 1, comprising of minnows Australia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
While entry into the knockout stage will be a formality, the real test will only start from the quarterfinals.
With the format comprising two singles and three doubles, Sindhu, Sen and Srikanth are expected to get India two points but it will come down to doubles players, especially the world number 8 men's pairing of Chirag and Satwik to deliver.
While Chirag-Satwik pair is coming into the tournament after playing a pivotal role in India's epic Thomas Cup win, the women's and mixed pairings are new combinations and haven't had a lot of game time.
Gayatri Gopichand and Tressa Jolly qualified after coming on top in the selection trials in April. But the duo skipped most of the Asian leg events post the trials with Gayatri nursing an injury. When they returned at Malaysia Masters, the duo was sent packing in straight games by world number 11 Tan Pearly and Thinaah Muralitharan. |
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