pv sindhu

India, who emerged as the most successful team in Gold Coast with six medals -- the same as England who had a silver medal less, are the defending champion in the Mixed Team competition having won the title four years back in Gold Coast ahead of Malaysia. They have in their ranks stars like former World No 1 and ex-World Champion PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist, Kidambi Srikanth, silver medallist in the World Championship in December 2021.

Sindhu, who medalled at the Rio 2016 Olympics and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, two other highly deserving athletes were considered to be Team India's flagbearer: weightlifter Mirabai Chanu and boxer Lovlina Borgohain, who are both Olympic medallists. A four-member committee, comprising IOA acting president Anil Khanna, IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta, IOA treasurer Anandeshwar Panday, and Team India Chef de Mission Rajesh Bhandari, shortlisted the three athletes.

As cricket makes a return to the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 24 years, excitement was evident in the way Powar and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur spoke in the pre-departure virtual press conference. Powar expressed his wish to make the team meet Sindhu and Chopra if they find time at the Games Village to learn what makes the duo high-performing achievers in their own disciplines.

Sindhu, a former world champion and seeded third in the tournament, said that losing in the quarterfinals and semifinals in the previous events this season was a bit upsetting for her. "In the last couple of tournaments, there were hard-fought matches, and losing in the quarterfinals and semifinals was a bit upsetting but each match mattered and finally I could get this," Sindhu said, after winning the Singapore Open.

World No 7 Sindhu took 58 minutes to defeat world No 11 Zhi Yi 21-9, 11-21, 21-15 and win her third title of the year. Two-time Olympic medallist earlier won the Syed Modi International in January and Swiss Open in March, however, were BWF Super 300-level meets. Sindhu, a former world champion and seeded third in the tournament, started the final at the Singapore Indoor Stadium with purpose.

World No 7 Sindhu came from behind to beat world No 19 Han Yue 17-21, 21-11, 21-19 in the quarterfinals, which lasted for one hour and 2 minutes. With the win, she set up a semifinal clash against Japan's Saena Kawakami, who upset Thai shuttler Pornpawee Chochuwong in her final eight clash. The Indian shuttler made a slow start and trailed her Chinese opponent 14-11 before scoring four back-to-back points to take the lead.

World No. 7 Sindhu came from a game down in her women's singles match to defeat world No 59 Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in one hour and six minutes. Sindhu was caught off-guard by her lower-ranked opponent in the first game and was in a spot of bother, trailing 19-17 in the second game. However, she rallied to score four consecutive points and took the match into the decider.

World No 7 Sindhu came from a game down in her women's singles match to defeat world No 59 Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in one hour and six minutes. Sindhu was caught off-guard by her lower-ranked opponent in the first game and was in a spot of bother, trailing 19-17 in the second game. However, she rallied to score four consecutive points and took the match into the decider.

Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, proved too strong for Belgium's world No 36 Lianne Tan and won the women's singles match 21-15, 21-11 in 29 minutes.

Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, lost to world No. 2 Tai Tzu of Chinese Taipei 13-21, 21-12, 12-21 in 55 minutes. This was Sindhu's seventh straight loss to Tai Tzu and 17th defeat in 22 matches. The two-time Olympic medallist, had lost to Tai Tzu in the Tokyo 2020 semifinals and also at the Malaysia Open quarterfinals last week.