India begin CWG campaign with a bang; Bopanna wins

New Delhi: India began their Commonwealth Games campaign on a positive note as Rohan Bopanna won his first round singles match against Robert Buyinza of Uganda.

Bopanna was too good for a player, who has just one ranking point in the ATP charts, as he completed a 6-1, 6-4 win in just one hour and two minutes in the first round.

The tall Karnataka-lad is scheduled to play a second match today when he pairs up with Nirupama Sanjeev against top seeded Australians Paul Hanley and Rodionova Anastasia.

Bopanna today dropped 114 places in the ranking chart to be at 587 but he was coming into the event after playing a crucial role in the Davis Cup tie against Brazil and was hardly troubled by the African player.

With two break of serves, Bopanna raced to a comfortable 5-1 lead in the opening set and sealed the lead in just 21 minutes.

Buyinza, ranked 1601, overcame the initial jitters and started to serve well in the second set but unforced errors continued to flow from his racquet.

After missing four break points, Bopanna converted the fifth to get his first break — in the fifth game — to be up 3-2 in the second set.

He had a chance to close the set in the ninth game but Buyinza played his best tennis to save that point. However, he could not stop the Indian from serving out the match in the next game.

But there was hardly any crowd to celebrate Bopanna`s win at the Centre Court.

India`s Poojashree Venkatesh, Rushmi Chakravarthy and the mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Leander Paes are also scheduled to play later in the day.

There was also some good news for the hosts from the table-tennis arena as they thrashed Sri Lanka 3-0.

Eight gold medals are up for grabs on the first day of the Delhi Commonwealth Games with swimming offering five, weightlifting two and gymnastics one, on Monday.

The first gold medal will be decided in the weightlifting women event in 48kg category, scheduled to begin at 14:00 hrs.

India’s Sandhya Rani Devi Atom and Ngangbam Soniya Chanu will represent India in the event.

The second gold medal will be decided in the 56kg category in the men’s event, scheduled for 18:30 hrs, with India’s Sukhen Dey and Srinivasa Rao Valluri in the ring.

Out of five gold medals in swimming, two are on offer in women’s category — 200m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley.

Men’s will compete in 400m Freestyle Men Finals, 200m Butterfly Men Finals and 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay.

The last gold medal of the day will be awarded in gymnastics in Team Competition & Individual Qualification Men Subdivision 2.

Earlier, on Sunday, President Pratibha Patil, along with UK’s Prince Charles, jointly declared the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 open, in a grand opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

In a clear act of diplomatic compromise, Prince Charles, representing Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Commonwealth, and President Patil jointly did the honours at the inaugural ceremony, amid thunderous cheers from the capacity 60,000 crowd.

“My wife and I are pleased to be able to join you here in Delhi, where I have been asked by Her Majesty the Queen to be here at the start of the 19th Commonwealth Games,” Prince Charles said in his message.

“To everyone, I send my very best wishes for what I hope will be the experience of a lifetime. I have much pleasure in declaring the 19th Commonwealth Games open,” he said.

President Patil then delivered her speech in which she wished all the sportsmen and athletes good luck for the Games. “We wish the athletes the very best in their dedicated pursuit of excellence. I am sure everyone will cherish these Games. To my fellow Indians, let’s showcase our legendary hospitality while we celebrate sport in our country,” she said.

“The Games are now open, let the Games begin,” the President declared.

Putting aside all the nightmarish scandals and controversies that surrounded the Games in the past few weeks, the CWG Organizing Committee came up with a dazzling ceremony, which showcased the rich cultural heritage of ‘Incredible India’.

Millions watched in awe as the spanking new Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium turned into a stunning panorama of India’s diverse cultural legacy. The Ceremony began with the countdown, after which the National Anthem was sung by one and all present at the stadium.