Kidambi Srikanth is distraught, blaming himself for India's loss to Malaysia in final: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

India's defeat to Malaysia in the mixed team badminton final came as a shock to many. Shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy has revealed that Kidambi Srikanth is blaming himself for the team's loss and is inconsolable.

TN Sports Desk

Updated Aug 4, 2022, 08:35 IST

Kidambi Srikanth has been distraught since India's 3-1 loss to Malaysia in mixed team badminton final

Photo : AP

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Kidambi Srikanth had lost to lower-ranked Te Yong Ng in Mixed Team badminton final.
India eventually lost the entire final to Malaysia 3-1.
Srikanth, as per Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy, has been blaming himself for the team's defeat.

The Indian badminton team's mission to retain their Commonwealth Games Mixed Team gold medal resulted in a failure as Malaysia handed them a 3-1 defeat in the final. Of the matches India lost in the final, Kidambi Srikanth's defeat was arguably the hardest to digest.

Srikanth, one of India's finest in men's badminton, suffered a defeat against lower-ranked Tze Yong Ng in three games. The men's doubles pairing of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also lost their fixture after PV Sindhu had brought India level 1-1 by winning her women's singles match.

The onus was then on the men's doubles tie featuring Rankireddy and Shetty to keep India's fight alive but they too lost their match, resulting in a 3-1 defeat for the team.

Satwik, sharing the atmosphere within the team after the defeat to Malaysia, has revealed how Srikanth is blaming himself for India's failure to win the gold medal in the mixed team badminton event at Birmingham Games.

“Srikanth anna was so distraught. But it’s not just his mistake though he’s blaming himself. Even I lost a match,” Satwik said while speaking to media.

He further revealed that Srikanth was inconsolable after the defeat and it was painful for him to see the former men's singles world no. 1 cry in such a manner.

“Actually any Indian athletes. Today morning I couldn't watch the weightlifting girl. It's so easy to play your own match in comparison. I walked out when Srikanth anna started, but I could still hear the score in big TV so I put loud music. It was so irritating. Then it was painful to watch him cry,” Satwik added.

Srikanth himself had also expressed his disappointment after the team's defeat in the final saying: “I definitely wanted to win gold. We were going in as a strong team, and needed to be consistent. I really wanted to contribute one point to India’s win. It’s been a while since I lost a team tie, but unfortunately, I couldn’t win today.”

Srikanth and other members of the Indian team still have the opportunity to win medals at the Birmingham Games in the individual events that start on Thursday.

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