Commonwealth Games 2018: India Oust Malaysia To Claim Badminton Mixed Team Gold

India lifted the Commonwealth Games 2018 badminton mixed team gold medal at Gold Coast when they defeated defending champions Malaysia 3-1 in the final on Monday. India were fired up by two fine wins in the first two matches, especially after Kidambi Srikanth took care of the former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei effortlessly in the men's singles. Saina Nehwal then fought off a stiff challenge from Soniia Cheah in the women's singles to settle the issue for her team.

And India gets the GOLD??. Well done @NSaina .... look at the celebration :) ...so proud of ???? #TeamIndia #India #CWG2018 #IndiaAtCWG pic.twitter.com/47PYgtVFMb

— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) April 9, 2018

And our mixed badminton team secures a gold!????
With a mix of experience and young talent, the team's passion, determination & sportsmanship was evident in their game.
The team truly deserved this victory.
Congratulations! #IndiaAtCWG #CWG2018 #GC2018 #SAI pic.twitter.com/jRPleXu6jy

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) April 9, 2018

India got off to a fine start as Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwik Rankireddy rallied to a 21-14, 15-21, 21-15 win against Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh to give India a 1-0 lead.

Then came the clash of the giants of the two teams as world No. 2 Srikanth took on Lee, who has four Commonwealth Games singles golds to his credit. Lee, who has had the better of the contests between the two, had no answers on this occasion as Srikanth won easily 21-17, 21-14 in 43 minutes to give India a 2-0 lead.

India's first real challenge came in the men's doubles where Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty were put to the test by V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan in Match 3 and ended up with a 15-21, 20-22 loss as India's lead was whittled down to 2-1.

Then it was Saina's turn to try and settle the issue for India and she was engaged in a battle with Cheah which she won 21-11, 19-21, 21-9 to settle the issue in India's favour.