2022 Commonwealth Games | No medals for India on day one, Srihari Nataraj makes semis in men's 100m backstroke
As the 2018 gold medalists in women's table tennis, Manika Batra's team defeated South Africa 3-0. India got off to a strong start in the women's team tournament on Friday. Following the initial doubles victory by Reeth Tennison and Sreeja Akula, beat Musfiquh Kalam in her singles encounter.
Sreeja Akula defeated Danisha Patel to give the favourites a commanding 3-0 victory. Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan didn't have to work hard as India defeated Barbados 2-0 in a preliminary group league match for the men's team tournament.
Tyrese Knight and Kevin Farley were defeated by the impromptu duo of Sathiyan and Harmeet 11-9, 11-9, and 11-4 in three straight games. The Indians were never in danger of losing a game, despite the fact that the first two games appeared to be close.
The 40-year-old Sharath Kamal then approached the table and dispatched Ramon Maxwell quickly. India made it 2-0 by defeating him 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-3) in the match. Sathiyan then completed India's triumph by defeating Tyrese Knight 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-5) to give the reigning champions a straightforward victory.
The Indian badminton team had it easy in the mixed team competition because they brought in heavyweights like Kidambi Srikanth, who won silver at the world championships, and PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, in addition to the world-class doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. India also easily defeated Pakistan, 5-0, in their opening match in their pool's preliminary round.
B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa, a mixed doubles team, got things going for India by defeating Mohammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique of Pakistan in two games, 21-8, 21-12.
Then, Srikanth entered the NEC Hall No. 5 court to defeat Murad Ali, who was competing in his second consecutive Commonwealth Games, 21-7, 21-12. When P.V. Sindhu, the world's No. 7, defeated Mahoor Shahzad 21-7, 216 in double fast time, India had won.
In addition to India's unassailable 3-0 lead in the match, the world No. 8 men's doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and the women's doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also won convincing matches to help India sweep its opponents.
In the opening cricket match of the CWG 2022, the Indian women's team got off to a bad start against Australia. In the opening Group A match of the women's T20 competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Edgbaston, Australia beat India by three wickets.
India scored 154/8 in 20 overs after opener Shafali Verma contributed with a 33-ball 48 and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur smashed 52 off 34 balls. Australia was in serious trouble at 49-5 after Renuka's spectacular opening burst eliminated the top four players. Deepti Sharma (2-26) also eliminated Rachael Haynes. However, Ashleigh Gardner put up partnerships of 51 with Grace Harris (37 off 20 balls) and 47 with Alana King (18 not out) to remain unscathed for a 35-ball 52, leading Australia to a convincing victory on cricket's return in the multi-sport competition.
The women's hockey team defeated the underdog Ghana, although it only managed a 5-0 victory against a Ghanaian squad that defended deeply and with all of its players positioned behind the ball.
The Indian side, looking to bounce back from a lacklustre showing at the FIH Women's World Cup in the Netherlands and Spain earlier this month, got off to a shaky start, scoring one goal in each of the first two quarters, two goals in the third, and one goal to seal the victory in the fourth.
Gurjit Kaur scored India's first goal in the third minute with a drag flick from a penalty corner, giving India a 1-0 lead. Neha, an Indian forward, made it 2-0 with a field goal in the 28th minute; Sangita Kumari made it 3-0 in the 36th minute; and Gurjit made it 4-0 for India by converting a penalty shot. Four minutes before the final horn, youngster Salima Tete scored India's sixth goal.
With a commanding 5-0 unanimous points victory over Pakistan's Suleman Baloch in the men's light welterweight class (60kg -63.5 kg) to advance to the pre-quarterfinals, seasoned and dynamic Shiva Thapa got things started for Indian boxers.
Shiva, the lone Indian boxer competing on the first day of the competition, began out strong and gave his opponents no chance, winning a unanimous decision for a victory on points.
The skilled Shiva started each of the three rounds with a barrage of punches and was declared the winner by all five judges present. The five judges gave him scores of 30-26, 30-25, 30-28, 30-36, 30-26, and 30-23 for the fight.
Nataraj performed admirably, qualifying fifth in the men's 100-meter backstroke in 54.68 seconds. Among the 35 swimmers that competed, Nataraj competed in heat three and placed third, qualifying for the finals in fifth place overall.
Sajan Prakash could not progress after placing 24th in the men's 50m freestyle with a timing of 25.01. Kushagra Rawat also experienced disappointment as he placed eighth in heat 3 and ended 14th overall in 3:57.45, while 10 swimmers went to the next round.