Malaysia beat India 3-1 to win mixed team badminton gold at Birmingham 2022 ©Getty Images

Malaysia won the first badminton gold medal of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games here, beating India in the final of the mixed team event.

The 3-1 victory helped Malaysia to reclaim the title they won at Glasgow 2014, then lost on the Gold Coast to India four years ago.

Malaysia had topped their group involving Zambia, Jamaica and South Africa, before notching 3-0 wins against Sri Lanka and England in the knockout stages.

Defending champions India eased through a group featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia, before overpowering South Africa and Singapore.

The final began with a men's doubles match between Malaysia's Olympic bronze medallists Aaron Chia Teng Fong and Soh Wooi Yik and India's Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty.

Chia and Soh triumphed 21-18, 21-15 to get their team off to a winning start, but former world champion and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu levelled for India by beating Goh Jin Wei 22-20, 21-17.

World number 42 Ng Tze Yong claimed a notable scalp of former world number one and 2021 World Championships runner-up Srikanth Nammalwar Kidamb to restore Malaysia's lead, taking the men's singles match 21-19, 6-21, 21-16.

That left Muralitharan Thinaah and Koong Le Pearly Tan with the chance to clinch gold for Malaysia against Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand Pullela in the women's doubles.

Malaysia's Koong Le Pearly Tan, left, and Muralitharan Thinaah, right, won their women's doubles match against India's Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand Pullela to clinch gold ©Getty Images
Malaysia's Koong Le Pearly Tan, left, and Muralitharan Thinaah, right, won their women's doubles match against India's Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand Pullela to clinch gold ©Getty Images

Thinaah and Tan took the first game 21-18, and were cruising towards gold at 17-13 in the second, only for Tan to pick up a knock on the stretch which left her requiring some treatment.

She returned to the court, and the Malaysian pair were able to play out a 21-17 victory to clinch the match win in straight games, and gold for their country,

Earlier in the day, Singapore had eased to the bronze medal with a 3-0 victory against hosts England.

Yong Kai Terry Hee and Jessica Wei Han Tan won their mixed doubles match 21-17, 25-23 against Ben Lane and Lauren Smith, before Kean Yew Loh came from a game down to beat Toby Penty 23-25, 21-11, 25-23 in a men's singles match.

Jia Min Yeo sealed a place on the podium for Singapore by winning her women's singles clash against Freya Redfearn 21-18, 21-14.

Badminton competition at Birmingham 2022 is due to continue tomorrow with the beginning of the singles and doubles events.