Saina Nehwal has a massive task in the opening round of the All England Badminton Championship. (Source: PTI)
Saina Nehwal completely dominated against Sri Lanka’s Madushika Dilrukshi.
Total dominance – if there are two words that can describe India’s performance in the mixed-team badminton event against Sri Lanka. Saina Nehwal’s 21-8, 21-4 win against Sri Lanka’s Madushika Dilrukshi remains the biggest highlight for India. It almost looked like a practice match for the 2012 London Bronze medal winning shuttler. She did not allow any space to her opponent and looked almost in a trance mode, smashing and dropping on her way to give India a big win. World no. 2 Kidambi Srikanth also picked up an easy win over Niluka Karunaratne, defeating him by 21-16, 21-10. India faced an early threat in the mixed doubles with Pranaav Chopra and Ruthvika Gadde dropping a set against Sachin Dias and Thilini Pramodika Henahewa and winning it just at the last moment by 21-15, 19-21, 22-20.
Commonwealth Games 2018 Day 1 Live
Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Buwaneka Goonethulleka and Dinuka Karunaratna by 21-17, 21-14. Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa and Kavidi Sirimannage in women’s doubles by 21-12, 21-14.
Commonwealth Games 2018 India vs Sri Lanka Badminton Mixed Team highlights: