"I am looking at three gold medals in badminton" - CWG bronze medallist Trupti Murgunde hopes Indian shuttlers can have a fruitful CWG 2022

Former Indian shuttler Trupti Murgunde hopes the Indian badminton contingent can return from the Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG 2022) with a rich haul of gold medals.

The former international player said she hopes the Indian contingent can win three gold medals - in women's singles, men's singles and mixed team events.

In an interaction organized by CWG 2022's official broadcaster Sony Sports, Trupti said PV Sindhu could be a certainty for a gold medal considering how she has dominated her opponents in recent times.

The former shuttler said:

"There are bright chances for Sindhu (of winning a gold medal) because of the way she's playing. She enjoys an upper hand over her opponents that she is likely to face and so she has a good chance of winning the gold medal."

Read: India at CWG 2022: Full list of Indian athletes who have qualified for Commonwealth Games 2022 (Updated)

Elaborating further, Trupti said:

"I am looking at three gold medals. In mixed team events, there may be a little bit of resistance from Malaysia, but we have a good chance of winning the gold in the team events. Then the second would be PV Sindhu and I hope for one medal from the men's singles too."

"Li Jijao of Malaysia is not participating in the tournament and Loh Yew Kean from Singapore is the only tough opponent. But both our men's singles players Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen have been in good touch too."

Incidentally, Trupti Murgunde was a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the team event in the 2006 edition in Melbourne.

Trupti said she was hoping for an all-India final as that would be the icing on the cake. She mentioned:

"Srikanth has had a few niggles in the past but he's been doing well recently. I would be hoping for an all-Indian final between Srikanth and Lakshya and that would be the best thing for Indian badminton and Indian sports as well."

Young players to watch out for in CWG 2022

Trupti Murgunde heaped praise on young badminton players Lakshya Sen, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand for their talent and work ethic.

She said:

"Post Tokyo Olympics Lakshya Sen has been doing very well. His current ranking is 10 at the moment and he's likely to be the second seed at CWG 2022. He has a bright future and we are quite hopeful that he qualifies for the Paris Olympics 2024."

"We are also looking at him for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics because he's pretty young and he's already made a mark in the international circuit."

The CWG bronze medalist said CWG 2022 will act as a huge learning curve for the young badminton women's doubles team.

Stay tuned for the latest Commonwealth Games 2022 medal table on Sportskeeda every day.

She opined:

"Both Gayatri and Treesa Jolly are very young and they've had some good performances throughout the year. They still need to play a lot and CWG will be a good exposure for them."

"If they pull this off, then there's nothing like it. As I said, they need that extra exposure and need to be more consistent. Until now they've done reasonably well and they are our future."