The defending champions of the Mixed Team event, India, started their campaign in a solid performance on Friday and won all their 5 matches against neighboring nation Pakistan in the group stage.
With former World Champion and 2-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth at the helm, 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.
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, easily getting the better of Murad Ali 21-7 21-12 in the men’s singles match.
The gulf in class was evident as the Pakistanis struggled to match the high standards set by the Indians.
