CWG 2018: Badminton: It's Sindhu vs Saina in women's final; Srikanth to take on Lee in men's final

Gold Coast, April 14: It will be an all-Indian women's final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with PV Sindhu set to take on Saina Nehwal, while newly-crowned world no.1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the men's final.

Sindhu trounced Canada's defending champion Michelle Li 21-18, 21-8 while Saina, who had clinched the gold in 2010 Delhi Games but missed the 2014 Glasgow Games due to injuries, staved off a challenge from Scotland's Kristy Gilmour 21-14, 18-21, 21-17 in 68 minutes.

| Badminton at CWG 2018 |

PV Sindhu sets up gold medal match against Saina Nehwal after beating
defending champion Michelle Li in semi-final. #GC2018Badminton #GC2018 @BAI_Media @Pvsindhu1

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Sindhu started with a slender 11-10 lead midway into her first game against the Canadian, before extending to 14-11 and then to 19-15. The Indian, however, allowed the Canadian to sneak in a few points towards the end but managed to wrest back the lead and clinch the tie in 22 minutes.

The second game witnessed a complete domination from the Rio Olympics silver medallist, breezing away with an 11-4 lead at the break before stretching her lead to 18-8 and eventually closing the contest in mere 14 minutes.

Earlier, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina defeated Kristy in a pulsating semifinal contest that lasted an hour and five minutes. Saina opened up a 5-0 lead early in the first game before Kristy managed to open her account to trail 8-11 midway. Coming back, there was no stopping the Indian who raced to a 17-13 lead before closing the game in 21 minutes.

The second game also started on similar lines with Saina opening up with a 4-0 lead before stretching it further to 11-3 at the breather. Saina continued her domination in the second half but Kirsty came back strongly to square things at 15-15.

From there on, Kirsty never looked back and managed to lead for the first time at 18-17 before closing the game in 23 minutes.

In the decider, Saina gathered herself to surge ahead with a 7-2 lead before Kirsty reduced the deficit to trail 7-11 midway. Coming back, Saina never allowed the Scottish girl to settle down and closed the affair in 24 minutes.

Srikanth on song

In the men's semi final, Srikanth, playing on court 1, saw off 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph of England 21-10, 21-17 in just over half an hour contest.

He will face Lee Chong Wei in the final after the Malaysian dashed hopes of an another all-Indian final by beating HS Prannoy 21-16, 9-21, 21-14 in the other last-four encounter.

Earlier, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 21-17, 15-21, 4-21 to Malaysian pair of Mei Kuan Chow and Vivian Hoo in women's doubles semifinal.

(With Agency inputs)