The Indian paddlers, men and women, posted easy wins in their opening group matches of the table tennis competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games at the Scotstown Sports Complex here on Thursday.
However, it was a disappointing day for the swimmers and cyclists as they fell at the qualifying stage itself.
In men’s table tennis, India, drawn in Group 3, took just 49 minutes to demolish Vanuatu 3-0. Harmeet Desai set the ball rolling with a 11-2, 11-3, 11-5 win over Ham Lulu, before Sanil Shetty got the better of Yoshua Shing 11-6, 11-2, 7-11, 11-1.
The Indian pair of Sanil and Arputh Antony then brought the curtains down on a one-sided affair, seeing off Shing and A. Lin 11-6, 11-5, 11-4.
The Indian women, playing in Group 4, too, hardly faced any resistance from Barbados while winning 3-0. K. Shamini and Manika Batra posted straight-game victories over Shernice Felix (11-3, 11-2, 11-3) and Anthonette Riley (11-2, 11-5, 11-2) respectively before combining to down the pair of Harvey and Riley 11-4, 11-4, 4-11, 11-3.
Sajan Prakash, the lone flag-bearer of the country at the Tollcross swimming complex, failed to make an impact as he finished a disappointing fourth in Heats Two of men’s 400m freestyle. The Thodupuzha-born was 20th among 28 swimmers after completing the eight-lapper in 3:59.29.
Bad day for cyclistsThe Chris Hoy velodrome proved a not-so-happy hunting ground for the Indian cyclists. Amarjit Nagi and Amrit Singh were placed 22nd and 23rd in sprint qualifying respectively, while the quartet of Suresh Bishnoi, Amit Kumar, Majeet Singh and Sombir finished sixth and last in the 4,000m team pursuit qualifying.
The Indians also failed to impress in lawn bowls, losing to Scotland in the men’s triples (27-6) and to Fiji (15-8) in women’s fours.
