Commonwealth Games: Strong start for Indian hockey, badminton and table tennis teams; 14-year-old Anahat Singh wins-Sports News , Firstpost

In a largely happy day for the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games, the opening day in Birmingham saw the Indian women’s hockey team and badminton mixed team stroll to easy victories in their opening group matches on Saturday.

The day also saw history as India’s youngest team member Anahat Singh won her opening round singles match against St Vincent and Grenadines Jada Ross 11-5, 11-2, 11-0.

A brace from Gurjit Kaur ensured the hockey eves defeated minnows Ghana 5-0 in Pool A game. The other goal scorers on the day were Neha Goyal, Sangita Kumari, and Salima Tete.

Meanwhile, PV Sindh-led badminton mixed team didn’t drop a single game to beat lowly Pakistan 5-0 in Group 1 encounter. Apart from PV Sindhu, the mixed team of Ashwini Ponnappa/B Sumeeth Reddy, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, the women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly, and men’s singles star Kidambi Srikanth gave Pakistan very little to rejoice about on the day.

Boxing: Shiva Thapa beats Pakistan’s Suleman Baloch

Experienced boxer Shiva Thapa was too much to handle for young Pakistani Suleman Baloch as the Indian boxer thrashed Baloch by a unanimous verdict to reach the last 16 of the 63.5kg.

Speaking after the bout, five-time Asian Champion Thapa said he is motivated to win his first CWG medal. “Definitely a CWG medal motivates me a lot. It’s a very individual thing, sometimes pressure works and then you have the responsibility,” Thapa said. “We are all elite athletes here, representing our country. Everyone is hoping to win a gold medal here.

Cricket: Indian spinners disappoint in loss to Australia despite Renuka’s dream spell

India women’s cricket team conceded a match against the mighty Australians from a winning position despite reducing their rivals to 49/5 at one stage while defending 155. It was pacer Renuka Singh’s dream spell of 4/18 that gave India the dream start while defending, before Ashley Gardner’s 52 not out spoilt India’s party.

Gardner was well backed by Grace Harris, who scored a 37 to add 51 runs for the sixth wicket and put Australia back in the chase. Indian spinners came under heavy criticism as Radha Yadav (0/42) and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (0/24 in 2 overs) conceded 66 runs in 6 overs.

Earlier skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s 52 and opener Shafali Verma’s 48 took India to 154/8.

Table Tennis: Manika Batra-led women’s team beat South Africa and Fiji, men’s team blank Barbados

Indian table tennis teams break no sweat in the opening round with the women’s team blanking South Africa 3-0 while Sarath Kamal-led men’s team defeated Barbados with the same scoreline. Later in the day, Manika Batra-led side also defeated Fiji with Diya Parag Chitale/Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra and Akula (second singles) posting comfortable wins.

In the first round of the day, the women’s team saw star paddler Manika outplay Musfiquh Kalam 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 after doubles pair of Sreeja Akula, Reeth Rishya defeated South African pair of Lailaa Edwards, and Danisha Patel 11-7, 11-7, 11-5

The Indians similarly dominated the singles fixtures. Batra outplayed Musfiquh Kalam 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 to send out a warning to her rivals in the field, while Akula produced a similar effort against Patel, producing a 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 victory to help the Indian team clinch the rubber.

In the deciding men’s singles game, Akula came back to defeat Danisha 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 to seal the round.

In the men’s group 3 encounter against minnows Barbados, doubles pair, Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan, defeated Kevin Farley and Tyrese Knight 11-9, 11-9, 11-4. Veteran Kamal was also in a hurry as he beat Ramon Maxwell 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 in less than 15 minutes.
Sathiyan round of the tie by disposing off Tyrese Knight 11-4, 11-4, 11-5.

Cycling: Indian cyclists fail to qualify for finals in three team events

Indian cycling’s Commonwealth Games campaign began on a disappointing note with all three teams failing to make the finals on Friday. The Indian men’s sprint team of Ronaldo Laitonjam, Y Rojit Singh, David Beckham Elkatohchoongo could not make it to the medal round, finishing sixth in the qualification with a total time of 44.702 seconds at the Lee Valley VeloPark.

They were 2.480 seconds behind the first place finishers Australia. The fastest two teams will race for gold while the third and fourth finishers in the qualifying round compete for bronze.

The women’s sprint team also did not do better than the men’s side as it ended at seventh in the qualifying round with a total time of 51.433. The Indian team, comprising Shushikala Agashe, Triyasha Paul, and Mayuri Lute, was 3.592 seconds more than the New Zealand team, which clocked 47.841 seconds.

Then, the Indian men’s 4000m pursuit team finished sixth and last in the qualification with a total time of 4:12.865 which was 23.044 second more than the leader New Zealand. The Indian men’s 4000m pursuit team comprises Venkappa Kengalagutti, Dinesh Kumar and Vishavjeet Singh.

Swimming: Srihari Natarajan moves to semis, Sajan Prakash and Kushagra crash out

Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj clocked 54.68s to qualify for the semi-finals of the men’s 100m backstroke event. The 21-year-old from Bengaluru was the third fastest swimmer in his heat and fifth fastest overall.

If he had clocked his personal best of 53.77s he would have topped the heats. The fastest swimmer in the field was South Africa’s Pieter Coetze who clocked 53.91.

However, seasoned Sajan Prakash and debutant Kushagra Rawat failed to advance to the semi-final of their events respectively. Prakash finished eighth in the heats with a timing of 25.01 men’s 50m butterfly event. The best 16 athletes progressed to the semis.

Kushagra too finished last in the men’s 400m freestyle event as he stopped the clock at 3:57.45s. Both Prakash and Kushagra are still alive in the competition as they will compete in other events.

Lawn Ball: No victories for Indian teams

Woman singles player Tania Choudhary and men’s triples team suffered twin losses each on the opening day of lawn ball competitions.

The Indian men’s team of Chandan Kumar Singh (skip) Navneet Singh (lead) and Mridul Borgohain (second) lost 6-23 to New Zealand in their first game. They then suffered 12-19 defeat at the hands of Scotland in the second game. The New Zealand team comprising Andrew Kelly (lead), Mike Galloway (second) and Ali Forsyth (skip) proved far superior to the Indians.

Later in the day, the men’s pair team lost 17-14 to Malaysia while the women’s fours lost 9-18 to England.

(With inputs from PTI)

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