National Games 2022: Sai Praneeth & Aakarshi Kashyap clinch gold in badminton

Telangana’s B Sai Praneeth and Chattisgarh’s Aakarshi Kashyap produced superlative performances to claim the men’s and women’s singles badminton gold medals respectively in the National Games here on Thursday. Thirty-year-old Praneeth’s success meant that Telangana grabbed three gold medals in badminton. They had won the mixed team and women’s doubles titles earlier.

Praneeth dominated the opening game, jumping to an 8-2 lead and never looking back. second seed Aakarshi dominated the opening game of the women’s singles final against an erratic Malvika, who needed time to find her rhythm. The top seeded Malvika began the second game well, opening up an 8-4 lead. Aakarshi fought back by keeping the shuttle in play longer and closed the gap at 9-9.

However, Malvika wasn’t willing to drop her guard and fold this time around. She kept the pressure on her opponent and again moved up to an 18-14 lead and at that stage it felt like the match could go into a decider. But Aakarshi changed the tempo of the rallies, pushed Malvika on the backhand corner and bagged six consecutive points to set up two match points. Malvika did well to save two, but Aakarshi created a third with a down-the-line smash and then wrapped up the crown with a crosscourt drop to clinch the first gold medal for her state.