Vijender makes rousing start

India’s Vijender Singh and Manoj Kumar made a confident start to their campaign at the Commonwealth Games, winning their respective bouts with identical 3-0 scorelines here.

Vijender punched his way to the pre-quarterfinals with a unanimous verdict over Andrew Kometa of Kiribati in the 75kg bout while Manoj beat Mokhachane Moshoshoe of Lesotho with the same margin in the 64kg category.

Vijender, 28, was cautious initially but went on the attack mode after getting a measure of his opponent. He lowered his guard and kept attacking.

“First bout is always tough and I am happy I won it. I am hoping for the best and will go step by step. I am hoping to at least reach the final,” he said after the bout.

“Without headgear it is dangerous and injury may happen. Manoj Kumar was hit on the head (in the earlier bout) and so we have to be careful,” he said. “I have to make some adjustments and it all depends on the opponent you are facing. I was moving well and overall I am happy about my performance. I will try my best.”

Talented pugilist Mandeep Jangra started in style defeating Mozambique’s Augusto Mathule in the 69 kg welterweight division bout on Thursday. However, Parveen Kumar of India lost to Corey Henderson of Scotland in the Superheavyweight (+91 kg) category to bow out.

Table tennis

The Indian women’s table tennis team beat New Zealand 3-0 to proceed to the semifinals at the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

In the doubles, Madhurika Patkar and Shamini Kumaresan beat Yang Sun and Karen Li with the same scoreline of 11-8 in all three games to give India the 1-0 lead.

Manika Batra defeated Karen in the singles match with the scoreline of 11-13, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 to give India an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Shamini then thrashed Chunli Li 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 in the dead rubber to cleansweep the tie.

India, who won the silver in the category four years ago at home, will face Singapore in the semifinal.