Commonwealth Games: Pakistan badminton duo sails into pre-quarterfinals

• Pakistan's players have booked a berth in the pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition in the Commonwealth Games. 
• The duo trounced their South African rivals in the Men's Doubles round of 32. 
• They will meet their Indian rivals today. 

BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan's badminton duo - Irfan Bhatti and Murad Ali - have cruised into the pre-quarter-finals in the Commonwealth Games 2022 on Thursday.

The duo has qualified for the next round of the badminton event after thrashing their South African rivals - Jarred Elliot and Robert Summers - by 2-0 in the Men's Doubles Round of 32.

Both the players put up their show quite aggressively to control the game with wins in straight sets by 19-21 and 17-21. They managed to book a pre-quarterfinals berth in the Commonwealth Games 2022.

The Pakistan duo will next face India's Rakireddy Satwik Sairaj and Shetty Chirag Chandrashekhar today (on Friday).

Irfan and Murad, though performed well in the doubles match, lost their respective Singles on Thursday. Irfan Bhatti clashed with Malaysia's Tze Young NG in the Men's Singles round of 32 match. However, the 29-year-old Pakistani got thrashed in straight sets 21-10 and 21-9.

Murad Ali also faced upset in another Men's Singles fixture at the hand of Singapore's Jia Heng Teh who beat the Pakistani player by 14-21 and 16-21.

In Women's Singles, Pakistan's player lost her match to her Jamaican opponent. Ghazala Siddique played quite well against Tahlia Richardson in the round of 32 on Thursday but was defeated by 21-15 and 21-15.

Pakistan's top female badminton player, Mahoor Shahzad had to pull out of her round of 32 fixture against India's Akarshis Kashyap owing to her injury. Mahoor gave a tough time to her Indian rival who won the first set by 20-22.