BIRMINGHAM
\nA hammering in the ring followed by a thumping on the court, both by the same margin and against opponents from the same country. The first day of action at the Commonwealth Games wasn\u2019t too inspiring for Pakistan.
\nPakistan boxer Suleman Baloch was no match for his Indian opponent Shiva Thapa while the country\u2019s mixed badminton team was swatted aside by their arch-rivals on Friday.
\nPakistan\u2019s four swimmers also failed to progress to the semi-finals from their heats while the same fate befell gymnast Mohammad Afzal.
\nThe only bright spot for Pakistan was Nasir Iqbal\u2019s 3-0 win over Jamaica\u2019s James Morrison in the round-of-64 of the men\u2019s singles squash competition.
\nIqbal won 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 and his victory ensured Pakistan are guaranteed a spot in the round-of-16 as he set up a clash with compatriot Tayyab Aslam.
\nEarlier at the National Exhibition Centre, Suleman lost 5-0 to Thapa, who hardly broke a sweat to advance to the round-of-16 of the light welterweight (63.5kg) category.
\nThe nimble-footed Thapa, five-time Asian Championship medallist, was at his calculative best against Suleman who started off aggressively, exploiting his height to the fullest.
\nBut Thapa ensured that Suleman had some misses up front to tire him out before going for the kill, bringing all his experience to play from second round onwards.
\nHe landed some quick jabs as Suleman lost control for a split second in the remaining minutes. At one point, Suleman lunged forward to punch but Thapa effortlessly moved out of the way as the Pakistan boxer fell on the canvas.
\nThe Indian was scored as the winner by all five courtside judges, 30-26, 30-25, 30-28, 30-36, 30-26 and 30-23, for the bout.
\nPakistan\u2019s shuttlers were also no match for India\u2019s fancied line-up which swept to a 5-0 win in the Group \u2018A\u2019 opener.
\nMohammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique fell to a 21-9, 21-12 loss in the mixed doubles clash to B. Sumeeth Reddy and Machimanda Ponnappa before Kidambi Srikanth got the better of Pakistan\u2019s Murad Ali 21-7 21-12 in the men\u2019s singles match.
\nVictory for India was secured when double Olympic medallist P. V. Sindhu grabbed a dominant 21-7, 21-6 win over Mahoor Shahzad in the women\u2019s singles.
\nMurad and Irfan then went down 21-12, 21-9 to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the men\u2019s doubles and the rout for India was completed when Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crushed Mahoor and Ghazala 21-4, 21-5 in the women\u2019s doubles.
\nPakistan\u2019s first representation at the Games came in the pool but that also ended in disappointment although Haseeb Tariq bettered his national record. The 26-year-old clocked 25.97 seconds in the 50m butterfly, finishing 35th among 54 competitors.
\nMishael Ayub clocked 37.96 in the women\u2019s 50m breastroke and was third-bottom among 33 competitors while Bisma Khan finished her 100m butterfly heat in a minute and 8.21 seconds to stand 31st among 38.
\nJahanara was 22nd among 30 swimmers in the 200m freestyle after clocking two minutes and 31.28 seconds.
\nElsewhere, Afzal failed to qualify for any of the three apparatus finals in gymnastics.
\nThe 39-year-old Afzal finished second-bottom among 19 competitors in the floor exercise, 12th out of 14 in the rings and last in the vault during the qualification round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BIRMINGHAM A hammering in the ring followed by a thumping on the court, both by the same margin and against opponents from the same country. The first day of action at the Commonwealth Games wasn\u2019t too inspiring for Pakistan. Pakistan boxer Suleman Baloch was no match for his Indian opponent Shiva Thapa while the country\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-274672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n