Commonwealth Games: Srikanth, Saina give India winning start in Mixed Team badminton
Gold Coast (Australia) April 5 (IANS) World No.2 Kidambi Srikanth and former World No.1 Saina Nehwal led the Indian shuttlers off to a winning start at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games outclassing Sri Lanka 5-0 in the Mixed Team A event at the Carrara Sports Arena here on Thursday.
Srikanth beat Sri Lanka s Niluka Karunaratne 21-16 21-10 in straight games to clinch the men s singles match while Saina outshone Madushika Dilrukshi Beruwelage 21-8 21-4 in the women s singles match.
Before Srikanth s exploits the mixed doubles duo of Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Pranaav Jerry Chopra beat Sri Lanka s Sachin Dias and Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa 21-15 19-21 22-20 to give India a winning start.
In an enchanting 57-minute see-saw battle where the scoreline read 18-18 19-19 20-20 before India turned things around.
Gadde and Jerry took an 11-10 lead in closing stages of the match to register India s first win in the CWG 2018 over an upbeat Sri Lankan side.
In the men s singles tie Srikanth went into the break with a 11-8 lead in the first game before extending it further to 18-12 but the Sri Lankan scored three points in a row to cut down Srikanth s lead to 18-15.
The Indian however used all his experience to fend off any scares by bagging the final three points comfortably.
In the second game Srikanth once again got to a 11-8 lead before making it an one-sided affair in his favour by pocketing the tie easily at 21-10.
India made it an unassailable 3-0 over the Sri Lankans after the World No.21 pair of Satwik Ranikreddy and Chiraag Shetty beat Dinuka Karunaratne and Buwaneka Goonethilekka 21-17 21-14 in the men s doubles tie.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina then sealed India s win by thrashing Madushika Dilrukshi Beruwelage 21-8 21-4 in the women s singles match.
After going into the break with a 11-8 lead Saina roared back scoring 10 points on the trot to comfortably pocket the first game. The World No.12 Indian extended her dominance in the second game to take a 11-3 lead at the breather before gaining six points on the trot to eventually clinch the tie.
With an unbeatable 4-0 lead the women s doubles match turned out to an one-sided affair for India s Ashwini Ponappa and N. Sikki Reddy who beat Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa and Kavidi Sirimannage 21-12 21-14 in straight games to complete the clean sweep of the Sri Lankans.
--IANS
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