Mixed doubles whammy: shuttlers settle for silver

Hopes of winning India’s first badminton gold at the Games hinged squarely on the mixed doubles match and once the Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju lost,the events that followed were not hard to predict. Malaysia’s world No.1 in the men’s singles and doubles cruised past their Indian counterparts as the hosts had to settle for silver — an improvement on the bronze four years ago.

The Indian mixed doubles pairing were off to a shaky start as they failed to find their rhythm early on when they were up against Koo Kien Keat and Chin Ee Hui. Going down 21-14 in the first game which lasted 12 minutes,they came back strongly in the second and won it 21-10. They slowed their game down and made their opponents play to their pace. The third set,however,saw them repeat the mistakes from the first as they tried to force the pace of play and went down 21-10.

P Kashyap was given the unenviable task of levelling things in his singles match against World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei and failed after a fighting 21-18,21-17.

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The onus was now on Saina to pull one back for India and she looked like she was going to crumble playing familiar rival Mew Choo Wong. The first game went down to the wire and she was a set-down after losing it 24-26. The champion that she is,however,she looked unfazed as she wrapped up the next two games 21-17 and 21-14 to give her country a ray of hope.

Down 2-1,the last sight India’s men’s doubles pair would’ve wanted to see across the net was Malaysia’s No 1 duo of Koo KK and Tan BH. The Indians Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar turned out to be no match going down 21-14,21-10 to settle for a commendable silver their country — a reflection of India’s growing stature in badminton.