India trounce Pakistan twice on Commonwealth Games Day 1

The Indians triumphed against their arch-rivals in both boxing and badminton.

India had a great start to their campaign at the Commonwealth Games 2022 as they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in badminton as well as boxing.  

Badminton aces shine

The Indian badminton team began their campaign on a winning note at the Commonwealth Games 2022, Birmingham today. Senior shuttler Ashwini Ponnnappa and S Reddy gave India the perfect start in their fixture against Pakistan as they defeated Muhammed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique in the mixed doubles event. The Indian pair clinched victory by defeating their opponents in straight sets at the National Exhibition center in Birmingham.   

This was followed by further happiness for the Indian team as Kidambi Srikanth Pakistan’s Mohammed Ali in straight sets to provide India with a lead of 2-0 in the men’s singles round. India’s top shuttler PV Sindhu didn’t fall back behind as she trounced the opposition’s top shuttler Mahoor Shahzad in women’s singles badminton to stretch India’s lead to 3-0.

This was followed by the pair of Chirag Shetty and S Reddy extending India’s lead to 4-0 by winning the men’s doubles fixture. The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Prjapati signed things off in style by winning the fifth game, thereby winning 5-0 against Pakistan. 

Shiva Thapa records India’s first win in boxing in the ongoing edition of the CWG 2022 

Badminton was not the only sport where Pakistan faced defeat to arch-rivals India as India’s boxing ace Shiva Thapa defeated Pakistan’s Suleman Baloch in 63.5 category on Friday.  

This victory kicked off India’s boxing campaign on a winning note. India’s medal prospect in the boxing ring in this edition of the CWG is very high, owing to the exciting talents in this year’s contingent which includes current world champion Nikhat Zareen, Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain and world championship silver medallist Amit Panghal.  

The 28-year-old used all his experience to emerge victorious. The nimble-footed Thapa seemed to be at his calculative best as he seemed to negate the threat of the height of his opponent who started aggressively. Thapa ensured that his opponent had some misses upfront to tire him out before he went for the kill.  

He won by virtue of a unanimous decision by the judges at the NEC Arena. Thapa will next be in action against Reese Lynch of Scotland in the round of 16 on Sunday.   

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