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Defending champions India stamped their authority by thrashing Pakistan 5-0 in their Group A opener of the badminton mixed team event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday (July 29).
While PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth delivered the wins in singles, the pairs of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponnappa-Sumeeth Reddy claimed victories in the men's doubles and mixed doubles categories, respectively. In the women's doubles, the fast-rising young pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand hardly broke a sweat to seal the deal for India.
It was a tough lesson for the inexperienced Pakistani shuttlers, who couldn't do much against their more fancied opponents. As the tie progressed, the gulf in experience and rankings became more and more evident as the Indians completed the whitewash without conceding a game.
With India facing Pakistan, social media was abuzz with comments, as is the case whenever they square off in any sporting event. The general consensus on Twitter was that there was a big difference in the performance level between the two teams, with most praising the Indian shuttlers for their ruthless domination.
Read: Indian shuttlers rout Pakistan 5-0 to launch Commonwealth Games campaign in style
Some Pakistani badminton lovers, on the other hand, were genuinely disappointed to see their team crumble so badly. They pointed out that their badminton players had learned nothing from the 5-0 thrashing they received at the hands of India at the same stage at Gold Coast four years ago.
Here are some of the reactions:
India next face Sri Lanka on July 30 in second match of Commonwealth Games Group A
The mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy started India's Commonwealth Games mixed team title defense with a 21-9, 21-12 win against Muhammad Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique.
It was then over to former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who raced away to a 21-7, 21-12 win against World No. 768 Murad Ali.
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu next took to the court against World No. 175 Mahoor Shahzad. Having won the Singapore Open in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games, the World No. 7 was in no mood to relent as she completed a one-sided 21-7, 21-6 victory.
India's Thomas Cup heroes Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then rolled over the pair of Murad Ali and Muhammad Bhatti 21-12, 21-9.
All England Open bronze medalists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly finished the job with a 21-4, 21-5 annihilation of Mahoor Shahzad and Ghazala Siddique.
India currently top Group A following their clean sweep over Pakistan. The confident Indian team will hope to continue their winning spree when they take on neighbors Sri Lanka in their second group match on Saturday, July 30.
