Awadhe Warriors opened their Vodafone Premier Badminton League Season 2, powered by Maruti Suzuki against Hyderabad Hunters in style and won 5-0 on points in front of a packed house here at the Sports Authority of Telengana State, here on Monday.
Carolina Marin cheers for herself during her match against Saina Nehwal at PBL-2
The crowd which had poured in numbers to watch these aces go up against each other were spoilt for choice and even had their home team in action; due to the level of competition between both the teams.
The tie started with men’s singles clash between B Sai Praneeth of Hyderabad Hunters and Vincent Wong Wing Ki. Praneeth looking to make amends for his loss yesterday started well and after some intense action won the first game 13-11.In the second game, Praneeth started off very aggressively, but Wing Ki slowly got into his groove to dominate the game and eventually won the game 11-6. The decider was an intense affair with both the players giving their best and it went down to the wire. Wing Ki held on to his nerve and took the victory 13-11 to emerge victorious with the final scoreline reading 11-13, 11-6, 13-11 in Wing Ki’s favour.
Action during Mixed doubles match between Awadhe Warriors and Hyderabad Hunters
The second match of the tie was the highlight of the day with Saina Nehwal of Warriors taking on Carolina Marin of Hunters. The match drew vociferous crowd support and did not fail to disappoint with Marin winning the match 15-14,11-5 to help her side restore parity. With the win Marin established her reputation as probably being the best women’s singles player of the league after two huge successive wins.
With a 1-0 advantage to Awadhe Warriors in the tie, it was expected that Saina will pile on further miseries on Hyderabad’s fortunes. But it panned out to be different as Marin looked in ravishing form and just a day after beating PV Sindhu, she accounted for Saina today in an emphatic fashion.
The match started with Marin and Saina matching each other’s move and were engaged in a neck to neck tussle. Nothing could separate them and it was a very intriguing tussle. Tied at 8-8, Marin broke free to go 10-8 up, but Saina made a stunning comeback to save two game points to tie the score 10-10. It was to and fro action with little room for error from any player. With an intense going on, it was finally Marin who prevailed and won the game 15-14.
With an intense first game, it looked like the second game would be even more competitive. However, Marin totally changed the tempo and dominated the game throughout. Saina had little answers to Marin’s onslaught and finally went down 5-11.
“It was a great match and obviously it great to have won. Saina is a great player and to beat a player like is always a nice feeling. And also I would like thank the fans for the support they have showed the team and it helped me to perform better,” Marin said after the match.
“It was little too difficult to control the shuttle and it did have an impact on my game. Marin had a slight advantage over me because she played here yesterday and had better knowledge of the conditions. But taking away nothing from her, she played well and deserved to win. Even I am happy with my performance and gave a strong fight in the first game and I was overall satisfied. I am confident to bouncing back,” Saina said after the match.
With the score tied 1-1, it was time for the mixed doubles action with Bodin Issara/Savitree Amitrapai of Warriors taking on Hoi Wah Chau/Satwiksairaj Ranki Reddy of Hunters. It was a trump match for the Warriors and pair of Bodin and Savitree lived up to their team’s expectation and won the match 11-9, 12-10 to earn a crucial extra point to help their team go 3-1 up.
In the next match, Kidambi Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors beat Rajiv Ouseph 11-13, 11-7, 13-11 in an action packed clash to help his team go 4-1 up and seal the tie.
The last match of the tie was the mixed double match between V Shem Goh/Markis Kido of Warriors and Boon Heong Tan/ Wan Kiong Tan of Hunters. It was trump match for the Hunters and even though they lost the tie, a win would have salvaged some crucial points for them going ahead into the lead. However, after a brilliant opening game by the Hunters duo to win the game 11-7, they could not keep up with the good work and a great comeback by the Warriors pair saw them win the match eventually 7-11, 11-8, 13-11. The match not only saw Hunters lose their trump match but also were drew a negative.
After two great round of action in Hyderabad, the carnival now moves to Mumbai tomorrow and it will be a double header with Chennai Smashers taking on Bengaluru Blasters in the opening tie followed by Mumbai Rockets opening their campaign of the league against defending champions Delhi Acers
RESULTS
1. MS2- Wing Ki Vincent Wong beat Sai Praneeth B -11-13,11-6,13-11 (0:43)
2. WS- Saina Nehwal lost to Carolina Marin 14-15,5-11 (0:25)
3. XD- Savitree Amitrapai /Bodin Isara (T) beat Hoi Wah Chau/ Satwiksairaj R 11-9, 12-10 (0:23)
4. MS1- Kidambi Srikanth beat Rajiv Ouseph 11-13,11-7,13-11 (0:38)
5. MD- V Shem Goh /Markis Kido beat Boon Heong Tan /Wee Kiong Tan (T) 7-11,11-8,13-11 (0:26)
PBL Facts:
Teams: 6
Cities: Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore,Lucknow,Hyderabad,Chennai
Venues: Same as above
Dates: January 1-14 ’2017
Broadcast Partner: Star sports – HD 1 & 3 and SS1 & 3
Ticketing Partner: Book My Show
Format: Best of 3 sets with 11 point sets
No of matches in each Tie: 5
Prize money: 6 cr – winner – 3cr, runner up -1.5cr, 3rd and 4th place finish – 75 lakhs each