Birmingham, July 29: India’s fancied shuttlers didn’t break a sweat on way to taking an unassailable 3-0 lead over Pakistan in their badminton opener at the 22nd Commonwealth Games here on Friday.
The duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and Machimanda Ponnappa started the proceedings with a comfortable 21-9 21-12 win over Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique in their mixed doubles clash at the National Exhibition Centre.
After the Pakistan pair appeared to put up a fight in the second game, Reddy finished the match with a down-the-line smash, and then, Kidambi Srikanth picked up from where his mixed doubles colleagues left off, easily getting the better of Murad Ali 21-7 21-12 in their men’s singles match.
The gulf in class was evident as the Pakistanis struggled to match the high standards set by the Indians.
Then, it was the turn of P V Sindhu to grab a dominant win over Mahoor Shahzad in women’s singles. The champion Indian shuttler won 21-7 21-6. (PTI)
