The star badminton trio of Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were the centre of attraction as the paddlers continued to snatch medals as the Indian contingent ended its campaign at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) on a high on Sunday.
India bagged a total of seven medals on the final day. India finished the Games with 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. This year’s total of 66 medals is the third highest haul for India in the history of the CWG.
In the medal table, India is only behind Australia (198 medals) and England (166 medals).
India’s best performance till date came at home during the 2010 Delhi Games, which produced a tally of 101 medals — 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze.
The second highest medals tally of 69 came at 2002 in Manchester: 30 gold along with 22 silver and 17 bronze.
Saina and Sindhu were involved in an intense, high tempo women’s singles final. Saina, 28, displayed superb form to clinch a 21-18, 23-21 victory for the second CWG singles title of her career. Her maiden CWG singles gold came at the 2010 Games in New Delhi.
