The Commonwealth Games 2022 have begun, and the first day of competition was filled with excitement and entertainment. Birmingham is proving to be an excellent host city, with a packed schedule of events involving Indians on July 29. While the women’s Indian cricket team lost their T20 international match to Australia, the Indian badminton team easily defeated Pakistan. In addition to these two competitions, the Indian athletes excelled in a variety of other disciplines.
For the first time in Commonwealth Games history, a women’s T20 international cricket tournament will be held. The Indian team is a strong contender, but it lost its first match by three wickets as the Australians chased down a 154-run target. There were other reasons to celebrate for India, as the women’s hockey team defeated Ghana 5-0 in the first game.
Indian badminton team also made short work of neighbours Pakistan with a 5-0 demolition in the Mixed Team category that saw the likes of P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth show their quality.
Here is the list of results from Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham:
Cricket
India was defeated by Australia after setting a target of 154/8 in the first innings over 20 overs. Australian batters demonstrated incredible chasing abilities, taking the team beyond the target and finishing their innings at 157/7 in Group A.
Badminton
In the Mixed Team event, India defeated Pakistan 5-0. The Group A match was highly entertaining but ultimately one-sided. Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu dominated the men’s and women’s singles events, respectively, while India also dominated the doubles events.
Hockey
The Indian women’s team began their campaign with a 5-0 victory over Ghana. Gurjit Kaur scored twice, while Neha, Sangita, and Salima each scored once.
Table Tennis
India defeated South Africa 3-0 in Women’s Team Qualifying Round 1 to start their campaign on a high note. Later, they defeated Fiji 3-0. In the Men’s Qualifying Round 1, the Indian men’s team defeated Barbados and Singapore 3-0.
Boxing
Shiva Thapa, one of India’s strong medal hopes was up against Pakistan’s Suleman Baloch in the 63.5kg category. The Round of 32 bout ended 5-0 in the Indian’s favour.
Swimming
Kushagra Rawat finished eighth in 400m Freestyle Heat 3 with a time of 3:57.45. Sajan Prakash finished eighth in the 50m Butterfly Heat 6 with a time of 25.01s. Srihari Nataraj impressed by finishing third in the 100m BackStroke Heat 4 with a time of 54.68 seconds, advancing him to the semi-finals. Later, Srihari advanced to the final of the men’s 100m backstroke event after finishing seventh overall in the semifinal with a time of 54.55s.
Cycling – Track
Vishvajeet Singh, Naman Kapil, Venkappa Shivappa Kengalugutti, Anantha Narayanan, and Dinesh Kumar came sixth with a timing of 4:12.865s in Men’s Team Pursuit 4000M Qualification.
Mayuri Lute, Triyasha Paul and Shushikala Agashe recorded a timing of 51.433s to finish seventh in the Women’s Team Sprint Qualification.
Y Rojit Singh, L Ronaldo Singh, E David Beckham, and Esow Alben finished sixth with timing 44.702s in the Men’s Team Sprint Qualification.
Triathlon
Sanjana Joshi (1:09:00) and Pragnya Mohan (1:07:27) finish 28th and 26th respectively in the Women’s Individual Sprint Distance Final. On the other hand, Adarsh MS finished 30th and Vishwanath Yadav finished 33th respectively in the Men’s Individual Sprint Distance Final.
Squash
The youngest Indian athlete at the 2022 CWG Anahat Singh beat Jada Ross of St. Vincente & Grenadines by 3-0 in the Women’s Singles Round of 64. Abhay Singh also won his fixture by 3-0 against Joe Chapman of the British Virgin Islands in the Men’s Singles Round of 64.
