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The Indian Mixed badminton team completely dominated Singapore in the semifinal of the event as they beat them 3-0 to advance to the final. The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty started the proceedings for India and sealed the game in straight sets. PV Sindhu defeated Yeo Jia Min in the second match in a similar fashion as Chirag and Satwik.
In the third game, Lakshya Sen had a tough opponent in World Champion Loh Kean Yew but the 20-year-old Indian prevailed and won the game in straight sets. Sen defeated Kean Yew 21-18, 21-17 and helped India register an emphatic win over Singapore in the important semifinal.
Coming to the first match, the duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Reddy proved too hot to handle for a relatively inexperienced pair of Yong Kai Terry Hee and Andu Jun Liang. The Indian pair was relentless and did not give many chances to its Singaporean counterpart. Such was the dominance from Shetty and Reddy that Terry Hee and Jun Liang did not lead once in both games and eventually lost the game 21-11, 21-12.
In the second match, Sindhu walked out as the favorite considering her recent performances and she clearly played like one. Yeo Jia Min had very few chances against the Indian ace as Sindhu made great use of her height to bombard Jia Min with smashes. The double Olympic medalist took the first game 21-11. She rode on the momentum in the second game and quickly finished it with the score line reading 21-12 in her favor.
In the third and final game, Loh Kean Yew made Lakshya Sen sweat it hard but the World Champion bronze medalist was also up to the task and clinched crucial points to stay in the lead till the very end. Although Sen started slow, he caught up quickly and reached the 11-point mark first in both games. Kean Yew made a comeback to make it a thrilling contest but his error gave Sen a win in Game 1. The story continued in Game 2 as well and Sen eventually won the game 21-18, 21-17.