CWG: Focus on Sindhu but doubles key to India retaining mixed team gold

New Delhi: Star shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, will chase individual gold medals but doubles would also be under the spotlight as India would aim to retain the mixed team title and continue their consistent run at the Commonwealth Games.

Ever since Dinesh Khanna claimed India's first badminton medal -- a bronze at the quadrennial event in 1966 -- the country has accumulated 25 medals, including seven golds, riding on individual brilliance. In the last edition at Gold Coast, Indian players were on fire, claiming an unprecedented six medals, including two gold.

In the individual event, the coveted yellow metal will again be a target not only for double Olympic medallist Sindhu but also for world championships silver and bronze medallists Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen respectively.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy too will be keen to change the colour of the silver they won on their CWG debut in 2018. However, more than individual medals, the focus this time will be on India's performance in the mixed team event.

At Gold Coast, a young Indian team had managed to pull the rug from under the feet of the mighty Malaysians to emerge as champions for the first time. Overall, India still ranks third in the list of medallists with England (8-times winner) and Malaysia (5-time champions) taking the top two spots with 109 and 64 medals so far.

India thus has a long way to go to emerge as a dominant force but they would like to prove that 2018 was not a fluke as they open their campaign in Group 1, comprising of minnows Australia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

In individual events, a gold medal has eluded Sindhu, who returned with a bronze and a silver in the last editions. However, she will start as a favourite for the title this time with some competition coming from Canada's world no. 13 and 2014 champion Michelle Li, Scotland's world no. 18 Kristy Gilmour and Singapore's world no. 19 Yeo Jia Min.