New Delhi: Aditi Mutatkar made a successful debut, while Chetan Anand also shone as a dominant India Sailed into the quarterfinals of the mixed badminton team event with a third clean sweep in succession in the Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.
World number 17 Chetan beat Lewis Martyn 21-12, 21-16 in a 21-minute men's singles match to set the ball rolling as India dumped Wales 5-0 in yet another scintillating performance at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.
Pune girl Aditi, who made it to the squad at the eleventh hour, was then given an opportunity to play her first Commonwealth Games match and she reposed the faith by disposing off Turner Carissa 21-13, 21-8 in 18 minutes to give India a 2-0 lead.
Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar then took the court but the duo had to toil hard initially as Phillips James and Morgan Joe matched them shot for shot in the first game.
However, the Indians had the last laugh as they beat the Wales pair 21-17, 21-14 in a 24-minute match in the men's doubles.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Aparna Balan then thrashed Turner Carissa and Harvey Caroline 21-11, 21-13 in the women's doubles, while mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju spanked Lewis Martyn and Thomas Sarah 21-8, 21-5 to wrap up a 5-0 win in India's favour.
Debutant Aditi made Turner stretch quite literally with her cross smashes and deceptive pushes and pushed her to commit many unforced errors. Also a line call went against the Wales player as her game crumbled.
"I didn't know what to expect as I have never played against the Wales. It was a good start for me. There was a little drift in the air but got used to it. It is quite normal to have one side of the court faster than the other, so it was ok. I hope to do well in the tournament," Aditi said after her match.
The highlight of the day for the Indians was the men's doubles match, which saw some fierce competition initially as the Wales and the Indian pair moved from 10-10 at the break to 17-17.
However, Rupesh-Thomas dug deep into their reserves from their experience to pull it off quite easily in the end.
"We didn't have too much competition in the last two days, so we were short of match practice a bit. It is no excuse though for the mistakes that we committed. It was a little different playing against them initially as they are a good pair but I am happy that we pulled it off," Rupesh said.
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