Ashmita Chaliha and Siril Verma were crowned the men’s and women’s singles champions as Indian shuttlers claimed a total eight medals that included four gold, two silver and two bronze in the individual badminton events at the 13th South Asian Games in Kathmandu on Friday.
Along with the two gold the Indian men’s and women’s teams won earlier, India ended their campaign with a rich haul of 10 medals to finish at the top of the badminton medal standings.
Former World Junior Championships silver medallist Siril Verma lived up to his top seeding as he came back from a game down to beat compatriot Aryaman Tandon 17-21, 23-21, 21-13.
In women’s singles, Assam’s Ashmita Chalia overcame a late surge from fellow rising star Gayatri Gopichand to win 21-18, 25-23.
In doubles, there was double delight for Dhruv Kapila who emerged victorious in both men’s and mixed doubles final. The men’s doubles proved to be the tougher outing for the young pair of Kapila and G Krishna Prasad but they were able to hold their nerves to beeat Sri Lanka’s Sachin Premshan Dias Angoda Vidanalage and Buwaneka Tharindu Dullew Dumbukola Goonathilake 21-19,19-21, 21-18.
In the mixed doubles final, top seeds Kapila and J Meghana eased past second seeds Sachin Premshan Dias Angoda Vidanalage and Thilini Pramodika Hendehewe of Sri Lanka 21-16, 21-14.
Earlier on Thursday, India had won two bronze medals when the women’s doubles pairs of Sikki Reddy-J Meghana and Kuhoo Garg-Anoushka Parikh lost their semi-finals.