All roads for the badminton fans in the city will lead to the Koramangala Indoor Stadium, where Bengaluru Blasters will host Hyderabad Hunters in a thrilling encounter in the Vodafone Premier Badminton League Season 2, powered by Maruti Suzuki tomorrow.
The high-tension clash will see both the teams go hard at each after their last loss and get their campaign back on track. Both the teams got off to a superb start in the league but couple of losses for the Hunters and one for the Blasters have seen them drop to the fourth and fifth position respectively on the points table and they will for sure look to make a movement towards north.
With an all important clash, a lot would be expected from Carolina Marin of Hunters who is most likely to take on Cheung Ngan Yi of Blasters in the women’s singles match. Marin got off to a great start to the league beating PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal in consecutive matches; however she succumbed to Sung Ji Hyun in the last match. She will be aiming to bounce back from the loss but it will not be that easy for her as Ngan Yi will also be looking to get back to winning ways after her loss in the last match.
“We had a little disappointing result in our last tie but as a team we are over that now and are looking forward to the new challenge,” Fernando Rivas, coach of Hyderabad Hunters said.
“Bangalore is a good team and we have to really be at our best against them. We are ready for the match and will give our best and look to end the tie with maximum points in our kitty,” he added.
In the men’s singles encounter, Rajiv Ouseph of Hunters and Viktor Axelsen of Blasters are likely to go up against each other and will for sure be an entertaining affair. Both these players have been in good form and come will come into match and it will be highly entertaining battle for the fans.
The other men’s singles clash in all likelihood give the fans a chance to see Saurabh Verma of Bengaluru go up against his younger brother Sameer Verma of Hyderabad and with both the brothers pitted against each other it will for sure keep the fans on the edge of their seats.
“We are really looking forward to the tie as it is our first home game. We had dropped points in our last tie from winning positions but we are past that. They have recovered from it and eager to bounce back in this tie. We are hopeful of a good show and will look to go for maximum points from the tie,” Arvind Bhat, head coach of Bengaluru said.
In the men’s doubles section, the heavy duty pair of the Malaysian pair of Tan Boon Heong and Tan Wee Kiong of Hunters is expected to take on the Korean duo of Sung Hyun Ko-Yeon Seong Yo in a match which will guarantee some high action and will be one of the key clashes of the tie.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Hoi Wah Chau of Hyderabad will be vested with the responsibility of earning a crucial encounter who will line up against a likely pair of local star Ashwini Ponnappa and Yeon Seong Yoo. The Hyderabad pair is in red hot form and are fresh off a win from their last match, however the experience of Ashwini and Seong Yoo will surely come into play and it will for sure be one of the matches to watch out for.
Awadhe Warriors are currently 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. Bengaluru blasters are fifth with four points, while the defending champions are at the bottom of the table with one point.
PBL Facts:
Teams: 6
Cities: Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore,Lucknow,Hyderabad,Chennai
Venues: Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore,Lucknow,Hyderabad
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