Parupalli Kashyap avenged his 2010 semifinals loss to England's Rajiv Ouseph and moved into the final, which will give him a chance to become only the third Indian to win the Commonwealth Games badminton singles gold medal, and the first one since 1982.
His colleague, RMV Gurusaidutt came within two points of making it an all-India final, as he led 21-16, 19-15 before losing the match.
India's chances of golden double in singles took a nosedive as PV Sindhu lost two extended games to Hong Kong-born Canadian Michelle Li 22-20, 22-20 in the semifinal, who beat the top-seeded Indian for the second time at these Games at the Emirates Arena.
But giving India a chance of a second gold medal from badminton was the tried and tested women's doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa, who outclassed Malaysian Loo Yin Lim and La Pei Jing 21-7, 21-12 in mere 27 minutes.
They clash with another Malaysian pair, Vivian Kah Mun Hoo and Khe Wei Woon who beat Gabriele Adcock and Lauren Smith 21-16, 21-11 in the women's doubles semi-final.
Kashyap, ranked No. 22 in the world and second seeded at these games, lost the first game at 18, but then fought back courageously to win the next two 21-17 and 21-18 to move into the final. The only two Indians to have won the singles gold in the past are Prakash Padukone (1978) and Syed Modi (1982).
The Kashyap-Ouseph battle was a close one as it took no less than 83 minutes with long rallies, the longest of which lasted 72 seconds and 71 strokes.
Gurusaidutt won the first game against World No. 40 Derek Wong of Singapore 21-16. He was then 19-15 up in the second before Wong pulled in a sensational rally to win six points in a row and send the match into the decider which broke the Indian. Wong won the third 21-15 to reach the final against Kashyap.
Gurusaidutt will now clash with Ouseph for the bronze medal late on Saturday night, but Kashyap meets Wong in the final.
Gurusaidutt, who is up against Ouseph in the bronze match has in the past lost to him.
Much as there was joy from Kashyap's win, there was disappointment as Sindhu, seen as a big gold medal prospect was beaten for the second time in these Games by Li. Playing her first Commonwealth
Games Sindhu had lost to the Hong Kong-born Li in the Mixed team event. Sindhu, the only Indian singles medallist at a World Championships will now meet Malaysia's Jing Yi Tee in the clash for bronze. Twenty-year-old Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland trounced Yi Tee 21-13, 21-19 in the other women's semi-final.
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