Indian paddlers have it easy on day one

Indian paddlers started their campaign with comprehensive wins in all their group matches in the team event of the Commonwealth Games here today.

The men's team got the better of Northern Ireland and Trinidad and Tobago thrashing them both 3-0 while the women's team defeated Sri Lanka and Wales 3-0, 3-1 respectively.

In the second match of the men's team against Northern Ireland World No 46 Gnanasekaran Sathiyan gave India the early lead crushing Ashley Robinson 11-4 11-6 11-4 in the first singles before India's most experienced paddler, Sharath Kamal, outclassed Paul McCreery in straight sets 11-6 11-8 11-4.

The duo of Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai then beat the pairing of Zak Wilson and McCreery 11-2 9-11 11-5 11-7, giving India their second victory of the day.

Earlier, in the men's opening match against Trinidad and Tobago Anthony Amalraj struggled a little in the first singles but managed to beat Dexter St. Louis 11-5 3-11 11-2 14-12 before the in-form Sathiyan doubled India's lead thrashing Aaron Wilson 11-5 11-5 11-4.

Sathiyan and Desai then paired together to beat the pairing of Wilson and Yuvraaj Dookram 11-9 11-4 11-4 making it 3-0 in favour of the Indians.

"Everything was going really well. In the first game we were one up. We lost a few points but our tactics and what we were doing was really good," Sathiyan said after the win.

In the women's tie, India thrashed Sri Lanka 3-0. Manika Batra hardly broke a sweat in her 11-3 11-5 11-3 victory over Erandi Warusawithana in the first singles before Sutirtha Mukherjee made it 2-0 up for India with an easy 11-5 11-8 11-4 win over Ishara Manikku Badu.

Sutirtha then paired with Pooja Sahasrabudhe in the doubles to notch up a 11-6 11-7 11-3 win against the Sri Lankan duo of Hansani Kapugeekiyana and Ishara Manikku Badu to wrap up the tie in style.

In the second women's group stage match against Wales, Manika beat Charlotte Carey 11-8 8-11 11-5 11-4 before veteran Mouma Das gave India a 2-0 lead by defeating Chloe Thomas 12-10 11-7 11-7.

The pairing of Madhurika Patkar and Das suffered the only defeat of the day losing to the pairing of Charlotte Carey and Anna Hursey 8-11 5-11 11-5 11-7 11-13. But Patkar got back to business ending the tie by getting the better of Chloe Thomas 11-3 11-4 12-10 in the last singles match of the tie and giving India 3-1 win over Wales.