KUALA LUMPUR: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah thrashed England's Lauren Smith-Chloe Birch 21-5, 21-8 to win the Commonwealth women's doubles gold medal in Birmingham today.
Pearly-Thinaah successfully defended the gold won by Vivian Hoo-Chow Mei Kuan in Gold Coast four years ago, continuing Malaysia's dominance in the event for the third straight Games.
With Pearly-Thinaah's victory, the Malaysian contingent surpassed their six-gold target with seven gold, matching their 2018 Gold Coast haul.
"It is a great win and (I am) so happy with this effort. It will definitely inspire us ahead of the world championships in Tokyo later this month," said Thinaah today.
Still, Malaysia, with just two gold failed to dethrone India as the overall champions in badminton.
India, despite losing the mixed team title to Malaysia, bounced back superbly to sweep three of the five individual titles through Laksya Sen (men's singles), P.V. Sindhu (women's singles) and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (men's doubles).
It was a day to forget for England shuttlers as they failed to win any of the three finals today.
Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (men's doubles) and Marcus Eelis-Lauren Smith (mixed doubles) were their other silver medallists.