India's fancied shuttlers didn't break a sweat on way to completing a 5-0 sweep of Pakistan in their badminton campaign opener at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday. (CWG Full Coverage | Badminton News)
The duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and Machimanda Ponnappa started the proceedings with a comfortable 21-9 21-12 win over Muhammad Irfan ಞSaeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddi꧒que 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 m♊ixed doubles colleagues left, easily getting the better of Murad Ali 21-7 21-12 in t﷽he men's singles match.
The gulf in class was evident as the Pakistanis struggled to match the h🧸igh standards set by the Indians🍌.
Then, it was the turn of double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu to grab a dominant win over Mahoor Shahzad in women's singles. The champion Indian s💛hut♉tler won 21-7 21-6.
In the fourth match, which✅ was the men's doubles contest, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got the better of Murad A♐li and Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti.
Unlike in the first three matches, Pakistan tried to take the fꦛight to the Indians but soon, the duo of Rankireddy and Chirag found thei🐼r bearings and emerged 21-12 21-9 winners.
In the conclu▨ding women's double match, India's Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crushed Mahoor Shahzad and Ghazala Siddique 21-4, 21-5 to complete the rout on💫 a dominant note.
