India walked away with all the gold medals on offer in badminton and archery at the South Asian Games on Monday.
India steamrollered Sri Lanka 3-0 in both the men’s and women’s sections to win the badminton crown. The host dominanted the archery events as well clinching all the five titles at stake: compound team men’s and women’s, individual men’s and women’s and mixed.
K. Srikanth started cautiously against Buwanaka Goonathileka, the Sri Lankan No.1, before running away with the match 21-14, 21-14 in the first men’s match.
Goonathileka was at his best when attacking in the first game, matching the World No.9 from the backcourt, at the net, even employing effective jump smashes that yielded a lot of points in the beginning.
From 12-12, Srikanth had got a firm grip on Goonathileka’s game. He began to deceive the Sri Lankan frequently with drops and once his famed smashes started to land, Goonathileka stood little chance.
Prannoy made mincemeat of Sachin Dias, beating him 21-13, 21-16 and Manu Attri & Sumeeth Reddy dispatched Goonathileka & Dias 21-12, 21-11 in 25 minutes in the doubles. The women’s team wasted little time in putting it across Sri Lanka. With G. Jwala opting to sit it out, P.V. Sindhu played the doubles rubber with Ashwini Ponappa.
There was, however, a minor scare in the second tie after Sindhu gave India a flying start. Ruthvika Shivani had to save three game points at 20-17 in the first game, but returned confidently to defeat Thilini Pramodika 23-21, 21-13.
Purvasha Sudhir Shende bagged three compound gold medals. The 17-year-old won the singles, bagged the team gold with Jyoti Surekha and Lily Chanu, and then partnered Abhishek Verma to clinch the mixed gold.
India’s M. Punshiva Meitei clinched a gold medal in wushu in the men’s taolu competition (Nanquan & Nangun). In the women’s taolu (Nanquan & Nandao), Swechcha Jatav bagged a silver medal for India.
Manika Batra and Mouma Das reached the women's table tennis singles semifinals with straight set victories over Nabita Shrestha (Nepal) and Mueena Mohamed of Maldives respectively.
The results: Badminton: Men: Final: India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (K. Srikanth bt Buwanaka Goonathileka 21-14, 21-14; H.S. Prannoy bt Sachin Dias 21-13, 21-16; Manu Attri & Sumeeth Reddy bt Goonathileka & Dias 21-12, 21-11). Semifinals: India bt Pakistan 3-0; Sri Lanka bt Bangladesh 3-0.
Women: Final: India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (P.V. Sindhu bt Kavindi Ishadika Sirimannage 21-7, 21-5; Ruthvika Shivani bt Thilini Pramodika 23-21, 21-13; Ashwini Ponappa & P.V. Sindhu bt Achini Rathnasiri & Upuli Samathika 21-13, 21-13). Semifinals: Sri Lanka bt Nepal 3-0; India bt Bangladesh 3-0.
Archery: Finals: Compound: Men: Team: India bt Bhutan 230-219; Individual: Rajat Chauhan bt Abhishek Verma 144-142. Women: Team: India bt Bangladesh 228-217; Mixed: India bt Bangladesh 156-138; Individual: Purvasha Sudhir Shende bt Jyoti Surekha 138-133.
