India broke little sweat as it peeled away the challenge of Ghana with a 5-0 sweep in its Group B opener of the mixed event of the badminton competitions at the 20th Commonwealth Games at the Emirates Arena here on Thursday.
P. Kashyap, playing with a strapped shoulder, easily downed Sam Daniel 21-6, 21-16 in 27 minutes and leave open the floor for the others to follow suit.
India, which had won the silver in New Delhi 2010 and is ranked No. 3 here behind Malaysia and England, was soon 2-0 up as P.V. Sindhu hardly gave anything away in her 21-7, 21-5 win over Stella Amasah in just 15 minutes. The dominance that the Indian had was evident time and again as she won 15 and 17 points on serve through the two sets.
Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Chopra proved too hot to handle as they beat Emmanuel Donker and Abraham Ayittey 21-7, 21-11. The hard-hitting Jwala Gutta and Aswhini Ponnappa then came past Diana Archer and Evelyn Botwe 21-4, 21-10. The rout was complete when the mixed doubles pair of K. Srikanth and P.C. Thulasi beat Sam Daniel and Stella Amasah 21-5, 21-9.
“It was quite easy. No sweat, ” said Jwala.
India will play Uganda, which got past Kenya 3-2, in its next match.
