New Delhi:
A dominant India dumped Wales and Scotland in the preliminary stage to set up a quarterfinal clash with Canada in the mixed badminton event of the Commonwealth Games at the Siri Fort sport complex in New Delhi on Wednesday.
After a 5-0 demolition of Wales in the morning, India continued their unbeaten run and defeated Scotland 4-1 to top Group D.
In the evening session, Jwala Gutta and V Diju started the proceedings for India but the duo had to play out of their skin to beat Watson Briggs and Imogen Bankier 21-11 19-21 21-18 in a 51-minute battle.
Diju-Gutta pocketed the first match quite easily but Briggs and Bankier produced some intense performance and gave the Indians run for their money in the second game to make a successful comeback.
In the decider, Jwala-Diju were leading 18-10 but they gave away too many points, owing to a series of unforced but with the crowd rooting for them, India finally pulled it off.
"It wasn't a very tough match but yes, we made some mistakes but i happy we won it finally. I was intimidated by the way Briggs was smiling at me. He made me a bit nervous," Jwala said after the match.
In the men's singles, P Kashyap, however, didn't have to break a sweat as he notched up a 21-14 21-11 win over Kieran Merrilees to swell the lead to 2-0, while Saina Nehwal survived some anxious moments to beat Susan Egelstaff 21-8, 21-16 as India took an unassailable lead of 3-0.
Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also continued their unbeaten run and sent Briggs and Van Rietvelde Paul packing 21-13 21-16 to make it 4-1.
With the match already in their pocket, Jwala and Ashwini Ponnappa then conceded the women's doubles match to Emma mason and Jillie Cooper midway, trailing 1-4.
Earlier in the day, Aditi Mutatkar and Chetan Anand had shephered India to the quarterfinals with a third clean sweep in succession in the Commonwealth Games here.
World number 17 Chetan beat Lewis Martyn 21-12 21-16 in a 21-minute men's singles match to set the ball rolling, while Pune girl Aditi, who made his debut at the Commonwealth Games, disposed off Turner Carissa 21-13 21-8 in 18 minutes to give India to a 2-0 lead.
Thomas and Rupesh then had to break some sweat to beat Phillips James and Morgan Joe 21-17 21-14 in 24-minute match in the men's doubles.
Ashwini and Aparna Balan then thrashed Turner Carissa and Harvey Caroline 21-11 21-13 in the women's doubles, while Jwala and Diju spanked Lewis Martyn and Thomas Sarah 21-8 21-5 to wrap up a 5-0 win in India's favour. Up against Susan, Saina had to dig deep in her repertoire of strokes as her opponent indulged in some long rallies.
"I am happy we made it to the quarterfinals. Hopefully we will play well tomorrow and reach the finals," Saina said.
"I made some mistakes during the match. She is an experienced player and the last time I beat her it was 21-19 in the third game. I am happy I was able to beat her in straight games today. She has a good cross court smashes and net play. She is strong in rallies, so I was playing quick," she added.
Kashyap too played his strokes leaving opponents clueless.
"Ya, I played a lot of strokes today and I made a few unforced errors too in the process. I was having difficulty in spoting the shuttles during flat rallies as it was too bright out there," he said.
Besides India, Australia will take on Singapore and Malaysia will face off New Zealand.
In the quarterfinal, while England will be up against Scotland.