Star shuttler Parupalli Kashyap finally put aside his jinx of losing on the big stages to claim gold at the Commonwealth Games, while Indian men's hockey team failed to breach Aussie defence and settled for their second consecutive silver.
In an animated celebration, after beating Singapore's Derek Wong, Kashyap threw his racket, tore his jersey, before finally kissing it. The usual calm and composed Kashyap, showed a sudden outpour of joy, after claiming the biggest title of his career till date.
The Hyderabadi, despite consistently being in top-20 in the BWF Rankings, failed to win any major champions. Kashyap, ranked second in the games, was the only hope for India in the singles, after PV Sindhu settled for bronze the other day, and he made no mistake in signing off in fine fashion.
"This means a lot," Kashyap stressed. "You come to the tournament to win it. I was seeded second here and ranked in the top-20 for the last five years. I have been the India No. 1 for a long time. India needed this win. I needed this win."
"Last year I could have won a world championship medal but lost by a point," he added. "I lost in the quarterfinals in the Olympics. I think in these games, your opponents do not matter much. If you show heart you will win. Ending on the podium means everything."
It was by no means an easy victory for Kashyap, as the Singaporean pushed him all the way to the third game. In a breathtaking gold medal contest, the Indian won the opening game 21-14 but Wong took the match in the decider by winning the second 11-21.
Wong played neck and neck with the second seeded, but Kashyap was in no mood to let the title slip away from his hand this time. He won the final set 21-19 to script his name alongside badminton legends Prakash Padukone and the late Syed Modi, who have also won CWG gold.
Meanwhile, Australia registered another thumping 4-0 victory over India in the final of the Glasgow Games. The defending champions came out flying against India and completely dominated the match by scoring twice in each half.
India had nothing to lose and came into the match as underdogs, but they failed to breach Australia's defence and lost their second successive final. There were few moments of brilliance from India but overall the Kookaburras defence kept them at bay.
Chris Ciriello scored the hattrick for the defending champions, while Eddie Ockenden scored the final goal to seal the match. Australians made full use of the defensive errors and clinched their fifth Commonwealth Games gold.
"Overall, the team has done well in the tournament," Sardar said. "We won a silver and it is always tough against Australia, the best team in the world. So, the team should feel satisfied with the silver."
"Our defence was not that good as compared to the earlier matches," he said. "We also conceded penalty corners through silly mistakes and we paid the prize for that. The Australians were left with not hard work to do as they got the goals through penalty corners."
