Decision to axe hockey from CWG is sad news, says India forward Mandeep Singh
The Indian men's hockey team forward Mandeep Singh called the decision to exclude hockey from the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow ‘sad news’ for Indian hockey.
Formidable pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty overpowered South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 17-21, 21-19, 21-18 to storm into the final of the Indonesia Open badminton championship on Saturday.
This will be their first final at a BWF World Tour Super 1000 event.
Satwik and Chirag, ranked sixth in the World but are seeded seventh here, waged a grim battle to oust the South Korea pair in three hard-fought games in 67 minutes of the first semifinal at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace here on Saturday.
Commonwealth Games champion Satwiksairaj and Chirag 3-6 trailed early in the first game and tried to bridge the gap; the Koreans managed to maintain their advantage as they extended their lead to 14-6. Though the Indians closed the gap to 14-18 and then to 16-19, the Korean pair earned four game points. The Indians saved one before Kang and Seo won the game 21-17.
In the second game, Satwik and Chirag took an early lead at 3-1, which they extended to 7-3 and 11-4 soon. The Koreans reduced the margin to 12-15 and then narrowed it further to 16-18.
But the Indians won three points in a row to earn four game points. The Koreans saved three game points but the Indian pair could not be denied and they won the game 21-17 and took the match to the decider.
In the decider the two pairs went neck and neck in the initial stages of the decider before breaking away from 5-5 to win the next seven points and lead 12-5. However, the Koreans aunched some good attacks to reduce the margin to 9-12 and finally caught up with Satwik and Chirag at 16-16. The Indians then won three points in a row and earned match points at 20-17 and sealed victory at 21-18 to seal victory in one hour and seven minutes to claim a berth in the final.
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