Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian badminton players Ashwini Ponappa and Sumeeth Reddy have defeated Pakistan's Muhammad Irfan and Ghazala Siddique in the first match of the Mixed Team event between India and Pakistan Mixed Doubles Event at Commonwealth Games 2022 on Friday at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
Defending mixed team event champions India beat the Pakistan side by 21-9, 21-12 to win the game and gave India a 1-0 lead in the qualifications round of Mixed Team event in the Birmingham Games.
Indian shuttlers Ponappa and Reddy dominated the game against their Pakistani counterparts Irfan and Ghazala in the opening match of the Indian badminton contingent. The match proved to be a good warm up game for the champion Indian side ahead of the badminton knockout stages.
Meanwhile, India dominated their arch-rivals Pakistan in the Mixed Team events by 3-0 as former world number one badminton player Kidambi Srikanth defeated Murad Ali before Indian ace badminton player PV Sindhu outclassed Pakistan's Mahoor Shahzad.