India’s men's and women's badminton teams, as expected, won gold medals after beating Sri Lanka in their respective finals at the 13th South Asian Games, in Pokhara, Nepal, on Monday.
The men's team, led by Kidambi Srikanth, defeated Sri Lanka 3-1 in the finals, while the women's side blanked the same opponents 3-0 to make it a double bonanza for India.
Srikanth started the proceedings for the defending champions and was made to sweat by Dinuka Karunaratne before winning 17-21, 21-15, 21-11.
Siril Verma then gave India a 2-0 lead after his opponent Sachin Dias retired with the scoreline reading 21-17, 11-5 in the Indian's favour.
Arun George and Sanyam Shukla, however, suffered a 18-21, 21-14, 11-21 defeat to Sachin and B Tharindu D Dumbukola Goonathilake as Sri Lanka grabbed made it 1-2.
Krishna Prasad Garanga and Dhruv Kapila then completed victory, beating Karunaratne and Hasitha Chanaka 21-14, 21-18 in the second doubles match.
Up against the same opponents, the women's team also blanked Pakistan 3-0 in the semi-finals.
In the women's final, Ashmita Chaliha, Aakarshi Kashyap and Gayatri Gopichand scored victories in the three singles to give India a 3-0 win against Sri Lanka.
Earlier in the day, the men's team mauled Pakistan 3-0 with doubles pair of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla, singles players Krishna Prasad Garanga and Siril Varma registering easy wins.
While Arun and Sanyam beat Raja Muhammad Hasnain and Atique Muhammad 21-12, 21-12, Siril thrashed Zahid Awais 21-7, 21-7 and Krishna Prasad Garanga overcame Ali Murad 21-19, 21-18.
Up against the same opponents, the India women's team also blanked Pakistan 3-0 in the semi-finals to enter the summit clash against Sri Lanka.
While Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka overcame Mahoor Shahzad 21-12, 21-18, Gayatri Gopichand brushed aside Palwasha Bashir 21-14, 21-11 and the doubles pairing of Meghna Jakkampudi and N Sikki Reddy saw off Javeed Huma and Akram Sheera 21-14, 21-12.
The individual events begin on Tuesday.
India open medal account with 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze in triathlon
India opened its medal account in the 13th South Asian Games with one gold, two silver and a bronze in the triathlon event on Monday, the opening day of competition.
Adarsha M N Sinimol gave India the first gold, winning the men's individual triathlon while compatriot Bishworjit Srikhom took the silver in a 1-2 finish for the country.
Thoudam Sorojini Devi and Mohan Pragnya added a silver and bronze in the women's individual event.
The individual triathlon event consists of three continuous legs of 750 metres swim, 20km bike race and a 5km run. The first athlete to complete the course is declared the winner.
Sinimol clocked 01:02.51 secs to win the gold in men's event while Bishworjit was second with a time of 01:02:59s. Basanta Tharu of Nepal took the bronze in 01:03:06s.
In the women's individual event, Sorojini clocked 01:14:00s to finish second behind Sony Gurung of Nepal, who took the gold in 01:13:45s. Another Indian, Pragnya clocked 01:14:57s to win the bronze.
India is being represented by 487 athletes in more than 15 disciplines at the Games.
India men, women in kho kho semis
Continuing its unbeaten run, India’s men's kho kho team entered the semi-finals after clinching two victories on Monday.
India first thrashed hosts Nepal by an innings and 12 points with a score of 17-5, and, later in the evening, went on to beat Bangladesh by an innings and two points with a score of 12-10.
It was India's third win in as many games in the ongoing tournament.
After finishing atop the points table, India will now take on bottom-placed Sri Lanka in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
In the other semi-final, Nepal will play Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the Indian women's team also secured a semi-final berth after posting their second successive win in the competition when they beat Nepal on Monday.
The Nasreen-led side, which beat Sri Lanka in their opening game on Sunday, notched an innings and eight-point win with a score of 11-3 on Monday.
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