Birmingham: Riding on oodles of vigour, India's PV Sindhu beat Michelle Li of Canada, winning her first Commonwealth Games single Gold. Compatriot shuttler Lakshya Sen also won the glittering medal, beating Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong in the final of men's singles of the Commonwealth Games here on Monday. Both won their first ever Gold in the tournament.
PV Sindhu faced Canada's Michelle Li in the women's singles final. In the match, the World number seven Indian did not give her opponent chances but played clinical in her short game and utilized even the slightest of attacking opportunities. Sindhu beat Michelle, ranked 13, with a score of 21-15 , 21-13 in straight sets.
In 2019, Michelle had beaten Sindhu, the 2019 World Champion, at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
On Monday, Michelle attempted to gather points by playing close to the net while Sindhu played aggressively.
In the Sen-Tze Yong final, the Indian was behind the Malaysian but came to the fore later. Twenty-year-old Sen defeated the world number 42 from Malaysia 19-21, 21-9, 21-16 in the decider.
During most of the first game, Sen was behind his opponent. But after 16-19, Sen stormed forward to reach 19-18.
The second game was one-sided, and Sen sealed it, which took the battle to the decider.
Sen turned to total attacking mode and kept the same till the end. His opponent's attempts to come back didn't bear fruit.
Post Sindhu's match, she said, "I had been waiting for this Gold for a long time, and finally, I have got it. I am super happy. Thanks to the crowd, they made me win today."
Sen said, after his match, "It was tense in the start, I had to work really hard. Yong also played a great tournament. Congratulations to him as well."
Meanwhile, the Indian women's cricket team won silver after losing to Australia in the final.