Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the round of 16, defeating Pakistan’s Mahoor Shahzad in the women’s singles competition at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Thursday. Kashyap was on fire as she swung her racquet on her way to victory within just two games as her opponent had to withdraw due to injury.
The first game was extremely hard fought as both players were neck to neck in the competition. The young Indian shuttler started well, leading 14-9 but lost her way in the middle and offered the lead. However, Aakarshi bounced back and fought hard to take the opening game 22-20 against her Pakistani competitor. The second game was better for the Indian as she looked more in the control and was leading 8-1 when Mahoor Shahzad of Pakistan had to withdraw due to injury. Earlier in the day, ace shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth had advanced into the Round of 16 following victories in their respective matches. However, it was curtains for the mixed doubles duo of Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa as they suffered a defeat 21-18, 21-16 to England’s Callum Hemming and Jessica Pugh in the Round of 32 tie.