Indian badminton teams bag two gold medals in SAG

Indian men's and women's teams on Monday bagged gold medals in their respective team events in the ongoing 13th South Asian Games in Pokhara, Nepal.

Men's team thrashed Sri Lanka by 3-1 whereas Women's team secured a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka.

In the men's team event, Indian shuttler Srikanth Kidambi started the match with men's singles game against Dinuka Karunaratne. After dropping the first game Srikanth made a brilliant comeback and won the next two games by 21-15, 21-11.

"Team Gold Medals are always special and I am confident that the Indian contingent will surpass the previous edition's performance," Badminton Association of India (BAI) President Himanta Biswa Sarma said in an official statement.

Siril Varma's opponent Sachin Premashan was retired mid-match and the former was declared as the winner as India took 2-0 lead. However, India's double pair Arjun George and Sanyam Shukla witnessed an 18-21, 21-14, 11-21 defeat to Sachin Premashan A Vidange and B Tharindu Goonathilake.

In the next doubles match, Krishna Garanga and Dhruv Kapila gave India a winning lead when they registered a convincing 21-14, 21-18 win over Dinuka Karunaratne and Hasitha Chanaka and ensured a 3-1 win for India.

BAI General Secretary, Ajay K Singhania, said: "Double gold win will give the team the right impetus as the individual games start and I wish the Indian contingent all the best for their upcoming matches.