New Delhi: Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu produced a vintage performance to crush her senior Saina Nehwal 11-7, 11-8 in a pulsating women’s singles match at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) semi-finals tie between Chennai Smashers and Awadhe Warriors on Friday.
Awadhe Warriors got off to a strong start in the opening match where Savitree Amritapai-Bodin Isara gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead by beating the husband and wife pair Gabrielle Adcock and Chris Adcock 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 in the mixed doubles match.
World No. 62 men’s singles player Parupalli Kashyap emerged triumphant over World No. 17 Vincent Wong Wing Ki of Awadhe Warriors as Chennai Smashers stayed alive in their PBL battle by levelling the score at 1-1.
Althought World No. 15 Kidambi Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors won the second men’s singles match in straight-sets, but it was not without a fight. He was made to work by Tommy Sugiarto of Chennai Smashers before winning the match 14-12, 11-7 to give his team a 2-1 lead.
Chennai Smashers regained the lead with 3-2 after Sindhu defeated Saina Nehwal in Chennai Smashers’ ‘Trump match’.
With everything at stake in the ‘Trump match’ for Awadhe Warriors, Goh V Shem/Markis Kido however failed to live up to expectation as they lost to the fast and aggressive Chris Adcock and Mads Pieler Kolding of Chennai Smashers in the men’s doubles match.
Chennai Smashers eventually beat Awadhe Warriors 4-1 to clinch the final berth in the 2017 PBL.
In other semi-final tie between Mumbai Rockets and Hyderabad Hunters, the Mumbai Rockets were declared the winner at the end of the second match.
After World No.3 Sung Ji Hyun of Mumbai Rockets defeated World No.2 Carolina Marin of Hyderabad Hunters with 6-11, 11-6, 11-5 in the Hunters’ trump match, H.S. Prannoy then won the next men’s singles match against Sameer Verma in Mumbai’s trump match, extending his team to a 3 to -1 lead.
Since it was impposible for Hyderabad Hunters to get back to the competition, both teams has decided to end the tie at after Prannoy’s victory.
