Commonwealth Games: Singapore"s Derek Wong in badminton finals

Derek Wong of Singapore on Saturday (Aug 2) prevented an all-Indian final after coming from a game down to beat R V Gurusaidutt 2-1 at the Commonwealth Games. Wong will play in the gold medal match on Sunday.

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Singapore’s Derek Wong plays against R V Gurusaidutt during the badminton men’s singles match at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo: Commonwealth Games Singapore)

GLASGOW: Derek Wong of Singapore on Saturday (Aug 2) prevented an all-Indian final after coming from a game down to beat R V Gurusaidutt 16-21, 21-19, 21-15 in a tense contest. Wong will play in the gold medal match on Sunday.

Second seed Kashyap Parupalli had earlier ended the hopes of England’s Rajiv Ouseph with a 18-21, 21-17, 21-18 win in the opening semi-final which lasted one hour and 23 minutes. There were a few controversial moments with some key line call decisions made and a 71 stroke rally on match point.

“It was very tough,” said the Indian. “There were some crazy line-calls. They were ridiculous. I was lucky to escape today.”

In the men’s doubles semifinals, Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Chayut Triyachart beat English rivals Chris Langridge and Peter Mills 2-1. They will play in the gold medal match.

Top seed P V Sindhu of India was beaten in the semi-finals of the women’s singles as Michelle Li of Canada broke British and Asian dominance at the Commonwealth Games badminton on Saturday. The 22-year-old was elated after coming through 22-20, 22-20 in a closely-contested match where her policy of relaxing paid off.

Li will play Kirsty Gilmour in the final on Sunday after the Scot delighted her home crowd with a 21-13, 21-19 victory against Tee Jing Yi of Malaysia.

England husband and wife pairing Chris and Gabby Adcock were the first English winners on Saturday as they beat Scotland’s Robert Blair and Imogen Bankier 21-14, 21-14. Both had previously played mixed doubles with the other partner so this was always going to have a bit of needle to it and the delight on the faces of the top seeds at the end told just how much it meant.

“This was probably going to be our toughest match,” said Gabby. “We knew we were a quicker pair than them so we needed to keep up our speed. They might have been a bit nervous as they have a lot of pressure on them.”

The Adcocks are joined in Sunday’s final by another English pairing in Chris Langridge and Heather Olver who overcame Chan Peng Soon and Pei Jing Lai of Malaysia in a tense battle.

- AFP/xq

Commonwealth Games: Singapore"s Derek Wong in badminton finals