pakistan: India thrash Pakistan 5-0 in badminton opener

India’s adored shuttlers left no stone unturned to thrash Pakistan 5-0 in the first match of their mixed team campaign at the 22nd Commonwealth Games here on Friday.

The pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Machimanda Ponnappa opened proceedings with a comfortable 21-9, 21-12 victory over Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddiqui in their mixed doubles Group A clash at the National Exhibition Centre.

After facing the Pakistan pair in the second game, Reddy ended the match with a down-the-line smash, and then, Kidambi Srikanth picked up where his mixed doubles colleagues left off, easily getting the better of Murad Ali. Went. 21-7 21-12 in men’s singles match.

The gap in class was evident as Pakistanis struggled to match the high standards set by the Indians.

Then, it was double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu’s turn to secure a dominant victory over Mahur Shehzad in women’s singles. The champion Indian shuttler won 21-7, 21-6.

In the fourth match, which was the men’s doubles competition, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Murad Ali and Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti.

Unlike in the first three matches, Pakistan tried to take the Indians into the fight, but soon, the pair of Rankireddy and Chirag found their impact and won 21-12, 21-9.

India’s Trisa Jolly at the conclusion of the women’s doubles match

Gopichand defeated Mahur Shahzad and Ghazala Siddiqui 21-4, 21-5.

Originally published at Pen 18