Birmingham 2022 (CWG 2022) Day 1 Indian performance

On the opening day of the Commonwealth Games 2022 (Birmingham 2022), India didn’t win a medal as they had very few such events.

Here we are briefly bringing the reports of India’s major performances on the first day of the CWG 2022 campaign.  

Teams’ performances

Mixed Team Badminton: India 5 – Pakistan 0

Indian team thrashed Pakistan by 5-0 in the Group A encounter. While B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa won the mixed doubles against Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique (21-9, 21-12).

Later, Srikanth Kidambi beat Murad Ali in the men’s single (21-7, 21-12) and PV Sindhu thrashed Mahoor Shahzad in the women’s single (21-7, 21-6).      

In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won against Murad Ali and Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti (21-12, 21-9). Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand also dominated over Mahoor Shahzad and Ghazala Siddique in the women’s doubles (21-4, 21-5).

Women’s Cricket: India 154/8 (20 overs) – Australia 157/7 (19 overs)

After winning the toss, the Indian women's team scored 154/8 (20 overs), thanks to skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s 52 and opener Shafali Verma’s 48.

Though Renuka Singh (4/18) forced Australia Women to get down to 49/5 in the first eight overs, Ashleigh Gardner (52*), Grace Harris (37) and Alana King (18*) brilliantly recorded a win by chasing the target (157/7 in 19 overs).

It was the first WT20I match in CWG history.

Women’s Hockey: India 5 – Ghana 0

Indian women’s national hockey team started the CWG campaign with a 5-0 win. Gurjit Kaur scored twice (3’ and 34’) while Neha Goyal (28’), Sangita Kumari (36’) and Salima Tete (56’) also scored once each.

Men’s Table Tennis: India 3 – Barbados 0; India 3 – Singapore 0

In the Group 3 encounter of men’s table tennis, India thrashed Barbados and Singapore by 3-0 each.

(vs Barbados)

Harmeet Desai / Sathiyan Gnanasekaran vs Kevin Farley / Tyrese Knight (11–9, 11–9, 11–4)

Sharath Kamal vs Ramon Maxwell (11–5, 11–3, 11–3)

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran vs Tyrese Knight (11–4, 11–4, 11–5)

(vs Singapore)

Harmeet Desai / Sathiyan Gnanasekaran vs Poh Shao Feng Ethan / Clarence Chew (11–5, 11–5, 9–11, 11–2)

Sharath Kamal vs Pang Yew En Koen (11–8, 11–9, 11–9)

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran vs Clarence Chew (11–7, 11–5, 11–8)

Women’s Table Tennis: India 3 – South Africa 0; India 3 – Fiji 0

In the Group 2 of the women’s table tennis, the Indian women’s team also thrashed South Africa and Fiji by 3-0 each.

(vs South Africa)

Sreeja Akula/Reeth Tennison vs Lailaa Edwards/ Danisha Patel (11-7, 11-7, 11-5)

Manika Batra vs Musfiquh Kalam (11-5, 11-3, 11-2)

Sreeja Akula vs Danisha Patel (11-5, 11-3, 11-6)

(vs Fiji)

Diya Chitale/Sreeja Akula vs Touea Titana/Grace Yee (11-8, 11-3, 11-5)

Manika Batra vs Carolyn Li (11-2, 11-4, 11-2)

Sreeja Akula vs Grace Yee (11-7, 11-1, 11-2)

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Cycling: Men's team sprint (6th), Women's team sprint (7th) and Men's team pursuit (6th)

India had some hard times in team cycling. While they finished in the sixth spot in the men's team sprint qualification (44.702) and seventh place in the women's team sprint qualification (51.433), they also finished in the sixth position in the men's team pursuit qualification (4:12.865). All of them failed to qualify for the final of their respective events.  

Must Read | Full List of Indian Athletes in Commonwealth Games 2022

Individual performances

Men’s Boxing: Shiva Thapa 5 – Suleman Baloch 0

In the Men's light welterweight (63.5 kg), Indian boxer Shiva Thapa comfortably beat Pakistan boxer Suleman Baloch by 5-0 to advance to the Round of 16 of this category.

Men’s Triathlon (Individual) – Final: Adarsh Muralidharan Nair Sinimol (30th) and Vishwanath Yadav (33rd)

In the men’s triathlon (individual), Adarsh Nair finished in 30th position (1:00:38) and Vishwanath Yadav managed the 33rd spot (1:02:52      ).

Women’s Triathlon (Individual) – Final: Pragnya Mohan (26th) and Sanjana Joshi (28th)

In the women’s triathlon (individual), Pragnya Mohan finished in the 26th spot (1:07:27) and Sanjana Joshi completed in the 28th spot (1:09:00).

Swimming: Srihari Nataraj qualified for the final; Ashish Kumar finished 8th position in the final; Sajan Prakash and Kushagra Rawat failed to reach the next rounds

Srihari Nataraj became the fourth Indian swimmer to qualify for a CWG final. In the 100 m backstroke, Nataraj first got the fifth position in the heat (54.68), and later he achieved the seven spot in the semi-final (54.55) to enter the final of this round.

In the 100 m backstroke S9 final, Ashish Kumar ended in eighth place (1:18.21).

Sajan Prakash failed to reach the semi-final of the 50 m butterfly after he had the 24th rank in the heat (25.01).

In the 400 m freestyle, Kushagra Rawat failed to reach the final after finishing in the 14th spot (3:57.45).

Men's Singles Squash: Abhay Singh 3 – Joe Chapman 0

Indian squash player Abhay Singh advanced to the Round of 32 of the men’s singles after the British Virgin Islands’ Joe Chapman by 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-5).

Women’s Singles Squash: Anahat Singh 3 – Jada Ross 0

Anahat Singh also qualified for the Round of 32 after thrashing Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ Jada Ross by 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11- 0).

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