Chennai Smashers beat Awadhe Warriors 4-3 of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium.

In the first match of the tie between the teams who already have reached the semi-finals, Vincent Wong Wing Ki beat Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk of Chennai Smashers 6-11, 11-9, 12-10 in the first match to give an early lead for Awadhe.

Chennai soon equalised as British Adcock couple, Chris and Gabrielle extended their unbeaten run in the league with a 11-4, 11-9 win over inexperienced Bodin Issara and Prajakta Sawant.

Parupalli Kashyap won Chennai’s ‘Trump Match’, beating youngster Aditya Joshi 11-7, 5-11, 11-7 to make it 3-1 for the southern outfit.

Rio Olympic 2016 silver medallist P.V. Sindhu sealed the tie for Chennai as she gave a nice badminton tutorial to Rituparna Das with a 11-4, 11-6 triumph.

Awadhe’s Saina Nehwal decided not to play this match which would have pitted the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist against the double World Championships bronze medallist.

Having already lost the tie, Awadhe managed to win their ‘Trump Match’ as V. Shem Goh and Markis Kido beat Mads Pieler Kolding and B. Sumeeth Reddy 12-10, 11-8 in the men’s doubles match. Despite winning the match, Awadhe lost the tie 3-4.

Despite the win, Awadhe moved to the top of the standings with 21 points from five games, while Chennai remained in the third position with 18 points from five games. Mumbai Rockets are second with 19 points from five matches.

–IANS

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Awadhe Warriors reached the semi-finals of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League (PBL) with a 4-3 win over Bengaluru Blasters at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium on Monday.

Going into the tie, Bengaluru needed a huge win over Warriors and it looked their fans were in for a treat after they won the first match to start on a positive note. But Awadhe won two consecutive matches to take 2-1 lead.

Saina Nehwal defeated Cheung Ngan Yi 9-11, 11-5, 11-5 in Awadhe’s “Trump Match” to make it 4-1 for the Lucknow-based side.

In the final match of the tie, Bengaluru won their “Trump Match” as Sung Hyun Ko and Yeon Seong beat Markis Kido and Goh V Shem 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 in the men’s doubles match to reduce the deficit to one point.

Earlier in the day, the home side made a perfect start as Sourabh Verma beat Vincent Wong Wing Ki 13-11, 11-7 in the opening match to give them a huge boost for the remainder of the tie.

But Awadhe soon equalised when Savitree Amitrapai and Bodin Isara overcame Sung Hyun Ko and SikI Reddy 9-11, 11-4, 11-5 in the mixed doubles contest.

In the third match, it was Kidambi Srikanth of Awadhe who beat 2016 Rio Olympic silver medallist Viktor Axelsen 11-9, 11-9 to help his side take a 2-1. Afterwards, Saina utilised her experience to win Awadhe’s “Trump Match” to seal the tie.

Following the win, Awadhe took their tally to 18 points which ensured their qualification to the semi-finals. Bengaluru are in the third spot with 11 points from five ties.

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IANS

Awadhe Warriors displayed yet another dominating performance to beat Delhi Acers 6-(-1) in the second edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium .

With the win, Awadhe Warriors now have won nine out of 10 matches and establish themselves as a clear favourites.

Before the start of the tie, all eyes were set on ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who was looking to bounce back after a disappointing start.

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With a lot riding on the Hyderabadi shuttler, she not only defeated Nitchaon Jindapol of Acers 14-12, 11-7 in a trump match but also helped the Warriors take a 3-0 advantage over the Acers.

With the win, Saina has extended her unbeaten run to eight games against the Thai shuttler.

Playing in the second match of the tie, Saina was slow to start as Nitchaon dominated the opening moments of the game taking a 5-2 lead.

The Hyderabadi shuttler, however, after initial hiccups recovered well and won a few crucial points to tie the scoreboard 6-6.

She then took two more points and with the scoreboard looking 8-6, it seemed like Saina was just about to break away. But Nitchaon did not let her opponent off the hook and soon found her serving for the game.

However, she faltered and Saina took advantage to save the game. It was turning out to be a great battle with both the players not giving anything to each other but it was Saina who finally prevailed winning the first game 14-12.

In the second game, the Indian shuttler was slow to start again and Nitchaon took a crucial 3-0 lead at the start, but Saina slowly began to come into her element.

She started to move better than the first game and as the match progressed she just grew into the match playing some exquisite shots which Nitchaon did not have any answers to.

Nitchaon put up a spirited show but Saina prevailed eventually to win the game 11-7. The win not only saw Warriors win both their matches in the tie, but also gave them an extra point as it was a trump match for them.

In the other match between Srikanth and Jorgensen, the Guntur player defeated Jorgensen 11-9, 11-13, 11-9.

Starting the match, Srikanth was quick off the blocks and seized the early opportunity and opened up a considerable lead.

Jorgensen, however, was not someone who would take down a beating lying on the ground. He fought back and soon made the lost grounds matching Srikanth move for move.

But Srikanth who was looking in supreme touch eventually won the game 11-9.

Jorgensen made a comeback in the next game and took the game 13-11.

With the match tied 1-1, a cracker of a decider was on the cards and it did prove to be an exciting contest with Srikanth finally winning 11-9 and help his team seize a lead of 4-0 in the tie.

Earlier in the day, the first match saw men’s doubles action with V Shem Goh and Markis Kido of Warriors beat the pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Vladimir Ivanov of Acers 11-14, 11-4 to start on a positive note.

In the mixed doubles encounter, Warriors pair of Bodin Issara and Savitree Amitrapai beat Jwala Gutta and Vladimir Ivanov of Acers 12-10, 11-5 to stretch the lead to 5-0.

In the final match of the tie, Son Wan Ho of Acers made took on Vincent Wong Wing Ki of Awadhe Warriors.

It was a last chance for the Acers to salvage some pride out of the tie and reduce some damage as it was their trump match. But Wing Ki had other plans and he beat Son Wan 11-8, 11-6 to complete the rout.

After the end of day’s play, it was Awadhe Warriors who are leading the standings with 11 points.

Chennai Smashers are second on the table with eight points, while Mumbai who is also on eight points are in the third place, only because of their poor record in the trump matches as compared to Chennai.

Hyderabad are in the fourth place with five points as well. They trail Warriors by the virtue of more ties played.

IANS