CWG Day 1: Overnight Round-up - 14-year-old Anahat stars, Srihari Nataraj in final, victory in Lawn Bowls

India had a dominant start to their Birmingham 2022 campaign. While the Indian contingent registered wins in table tennis, boxing, squash, badminton, swimming, Hockey, they had to face disappointment in cricket, cycling & triathlon on Day 1.

SQUASH

India's youngest star at Birmingham 2022 turned heads as the 14-year-old Anahat Singh began her CWG campaign on a high.

Anahat registered an easy 3-0 win against Jada Ross of St Vincent and Grenadine in her opening match of the women's singles event. The Delhi-based teenager defeated her 20-year-old opponent in straight sets of 11-5, 11-2 ad 11-0.

Another debutant, Abhay Singh also triumphed 11-5, 11-5 against Joe Chapman of the British Virgin Islands in the men's singles round of 64.

SWIMMING

Srihari Nataraj saved the blushes for India in Swimming on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games 2022.

The 21-year-old swimmer raced into the men's 100mt backstroke final after clocking 54.55 secs in his semi-final. He finished 4th in his semis and was 7th fastest overall, making the cut for the final.

Earlier in the day, Kushagra Rawat and Sajan Prakash failed to advance to the semifinal of their events respectively.

LAWN BOWLS

After a disappointing beginning to Day 1, the Indians finished on a strong note in the discipline with 2 wins.

The pair of Sunil Bahadur and Dinesh Kumar defeated the Falkland Islands 36-4 in the men's pairs event.

In the women's fours also, India registered victory after the quartet of Pinki, Lovely Chaubey, Nayanmoni Saikia, and Rupa Tirkey defeated the Cook Islands by 15-9.

Earlier in the day, India's badminton team won in the mixed team group match against Pakistan and Indian boxer Shiva Thapa also defeated Pakistan's Suleman Baloch in Round of 16 of the 63.5kg category. In Table Tennis too, India had a dominant performance as both the men's and the women's team won their respective group matches on Day 1. However, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side had to face disappointment as they lost their first group game against Australia by 3 wickets.