Controversial Nehwal lets racquet talk

Richard Eaton

NEW DELHI, Tuesday (AFP) - Indian top seed Saina Nehwal, who is desperate to play down her criticism of New Delhi's preparations, enjoyed a comfortable start to the Commonwealth Games badminton event on Monday.

Nehwal could become the first Indian woman to win a badminton gold medal, and it was an ideal lead-in to the pressure-cooker atmosphere which may follow when she helped her country to an opening day 5-0 win over Kenya in its bid to reach the team final.

Memories

Her 21-11, 21-4 win over Mercy Joseph may start to soften the memories of those who forced Nehwal into retracting comments which adversely compared these Games with Melbourne's, suggesting that Delhi was not capable of holding such a big event.

The 20-year-old from Hyderabad is already the first Indian woman to win a Super Series title, the first to win three tournaments in a row on the world circuit, and the first to reach as high as two in the world rankings.

After Nehwal defeated the part-timer in less than half an hour, she offered some suitably upbeat comments.

"The stage looked fantastic," she said. "It's a world class stadium that they have prepared. All the preparations are good."

Individual

Nehwal is also benefitting from starting the Games in a team environment rather being out on her own in the individual events. "The team looks pretty good," she said. "As for our main rivals, Malaysia and England are two good teams but we'll be trying our best."

Nehwal's ambition was carried to a rather higher level by Diju Valiya Veetil, who partnered Jwala Gutta to complete India's whitewash by winning the mixed doubles 21-8, 21-5 against Fredrick Gituku and Anna Ng'ang'a.

"The gold medal is our aim," she said. "It's a big deal for us.

Previous

Meanwhile Malaysia and England, both previous winners of the team event, were both able to ease their way closer to quarter-final places with two wins.

The top seeded titleholders Malaysians won 5-0 against the Isle of Man and against Seychelles, and England the 2002 Commonwealth champions, overcame both the Falkland Islands and Uganda by the same score. Malaysia's team unleashed their mighty world number one Lee Chong Wei against the team derived from a mere 80,000 people.

Lee, who will later be defending the Commonwealth men's singles title, overcame Joshua Greeen 21-16, 21-6, gradually accelerating the pace of the rallies as he went on.

Back injury

The major plus was that Lee seemed to be suffering from little inconvenience from the back injury which hindered his disappointing attempt to become world champion in Paris in August.

England's team contained Anthony Clark, the only player to reach two finals in the 2006 world championships, who experienced a memorable 100th cap.

Memorable, not just because the loudspeaker boomed out the achievement to the spectators or because Clark was clapped on to court by the players.

It was also because one of Clark's teeth was hurting so much that it kept him awake all night and required route canal treatment at a Delhi dentist.

Nor does the 21-10, 21-18 men's doubles win which he and Nathan Robertson scored over Wilson Tukire and Brian Ssuuna (eds note: correct) mark the end of his suffering.

Clark has to go back for more invasive dentistry on Tuesday.