GOLD COAST: Veteran Lee Chong Wei taught World No 1 K. Srikanth a lesson in badminton as the second seed won his third career Commonwealth Games men's singles gold medal at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre on Sunday.
The 36-year-old bounced back from a first game blemish for a 19-21, 21-14, 21- 14 win over the 25-year-old Srikanth for his fifth victory in six meetings over the top seed.
With the victory, Chong Wei signs off from his final outing in the Commonwealth Games with an unbeaten record of 13 men’s singles victories in three editions.
He also won the singles gold at the 2006 (Melbourne) and 2010 (New Delhi) editions but did not play at the 2014 Glasgow edition.
Chong Wei also joins former international Koo Kien Keat as the most successful athletes in the Commonwealth Games with five titles each.
In the first game, the World No 7 took a quick 5-0 lead with a string of body smashes before Srikanth caught up with his speed and powerful game to go 11-9 at the halfway mark.
It was close in the second half of the game with Srikanth winning it after Chong Wei had sent the shuttle out of play.
But the Malaysian was a different player in the second game. He took 11-9 and 19-14 leads before taking the match into a decider.
In the third game, Chong Wei was just unstoppable as he raced to a 11-5 lead by picking up quick points before sealing victory.