Indian women beat Thailand 3-2 in final, clinch historic gold in Badminton Asia Team Championships
Indian women beat Thailand 3-2 in a thrilling final to clinch their maiden gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships here on Sunday. The young and sprightly group of Indian women's team, led by PV Sindhu, defied all expectations as it rose to the occasion to come up trumps against two-time bronze medallists Thailand.
It, however, needs to be mentioned that like most of the teams in the competition, Thailand were not at full strength. They were without their top two singles players — world No. 13 Ratchanok Intanon and world No. 16 Pornpawee Chochuwong.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who is returning to action after a four-month injury-forced break, was back to her aggressive best as rode on her power and placement to outclass world no 17 Supanida Katethong 21-12 21-12 in the first singles and hand India a 1-0 lead.
World no. 23 Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand then continued their splendid run, dishing out another gritty performance to shock world no. 10 pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Pra Jongjai 21-16 18-21 21-16 to put India in the driver's seat.
Playing the second singles against world no. 18 Busanan Ongbamrungphan, expectations were high from Ashmita Chaliha after her stunning win against former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan on Saturday.
The Indian, who had defeated Busanan during the Singapore Open in 2022, stayed in the match till 14-14 in the second game but a string of unforced errors thereafter cost Ashmita dearly as she went down 11-21 14-21 to the experienced
