Press Trust of India
Shillong, Feb 10: Rising star Ruthvika Shivani created the biggest upset stunning PV Sindhu in straight games to win the women’s singles gold medal with India bagging seven gold and five silver medals from badminton in the South Asian Games, here Wednesday.
Ruthvika, who clinched the Senior Nationals at her home town Vijaywada in February last year, registered the biggest win of her budding career, when she bounced back from a 8-11 deficit to win 21-11, 22-20 in 36 minutes. The first game was all the more stunning as she reeled off 13 points in a row to shock her much-fancied opponent.
“I had never won a single game against her – forget about winning a match. It’s the most cherished win and I never expected this. These are tears of joy,” Ruthvika stated as emotions struck her after her win.
“We train together (at the Gopichand academy in Hyderabad) and we know each other very well. She’s amazing and is very strong physically but today I played better.”
The famed women’s duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa overcame some early hiccups against N Sikki Reddy and Maneesha Kukapalli before winning 21-9, 21-17 to take women’s doubles gold.
Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Atri clinched the men’s doubles title with a 21-18, 21-17, win over Akshay Dewalkar and Pranav Jerry Chopra, who had to be content with silver.
K Srikant emerged the men’s singles champion as he came back from a game behind to pip HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-14 21-6 in a thrilling summit clash.