The Indian contingent has been dazzling the 2022 Commonwealth Games with their incredible performances across multiple events. Weightlifting has been the top sport that has been churning medals but another strong discipline that Indians have dominated in is badminton. After India’s mixed-gendered team suffered a heartbreaking loss in the final against Malaysia, the individual competitors have had a great day so far.
The seventh day of the CWG 2022 saw PV Sindhu begin her singles campaign in a bout against Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq from the Maldives. PV Sindhu started the fixture with a breezy 21-4 win to go 1-0 up and she once cruised through the second set with a 21-11 win to enter the round of 16 in just 21 minutes.
Sindhu had a few lapses in concentration in the second game but still had a dominant performance. Like the two-time Olympic medallist, Srikanth Kidambi also had a great performance to enter the round of 16 of the individual events.
Srikanth Kidambi went head to head against Uganda’s Daniel Wanagaliya and won the first game 21-9. The first game had some good rallies where Wanagaliya tried to keep pace but the Indian surged ahead. The second game also saw a similar result as Srikanth registered another 21-9 win to enter the pre-quarterfinal stage.
India had their first defeat of the day as Ashwini Ponappa and B Sumeeth Reddy lost against England’s pair of Jessica Pugh and Callum Hemming as they failed to enter the round of 16. The Indian duo fought hard and levelled things up to 18-all but the English pair took three straight points to seal the first game.
Ashwini Ponappa and B Sumeeth Reddy's misfortunes continued after losing 18-21 as they were defeated 16-21 in the second game. The Indian duo fought tooth and nail but errors in crucial moments led to their defeat. The English duo of Pugh and Hemming built on their home support and dominated their competition in the clutch moments.
Today, two more Indian shuttlers will be in action as Aakarshi Kashyap will go head to head against Pakistan’s Mahoor Shazad in the round of 32 fixtures of the women’s singles event. Lakshya Sen will face Vernon Smeed from Saint Helena later today to progress further.