Commonwealth Games: India paddlers shine in first round
Gold Coast (Australia), April 5 (IANS) Indian paddlers opened their Commonwealth Games campaign on a winning note with the men’s team thrashing Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 while the women also completed a 3-0 clean sweep of Sri Lanka here on Thursday.
Amalraj Anthony opened India’s win with a 11-5, 3-11, 11-2, 14-12 win over Dexter St. Louis in the first men’s singles tie before Sathiyan Gnanasekaran doubled the lead for India with a 11-5, 11-5, 11-4 thrashing of Aaron Wilson.
Already 2-0 up, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan teamed up to beat Yuvraaj Dookram and Aaron Wilson 11-9, 11-4, 11-4 in the men’s doubles match making it 3-0 in favour of the Indians.
Earlier, star woman paddler Manika Batra gave India the lead with an easy 11-3, 11-5, 11-3 win over Erandi Warusawithana in the first singles match.
Sutirtha Mukherjee then doubled the lead with a 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 verdict over Ishara Badu in the second singles tie.
Sutirtha then teamed up with Pooja Sahasrabudhe to beat Badu and Hansani Kapugeekiyana 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 in the doubles match to seal victory.
