Defending champions Delhi Acers at last have something to cheer about as they finally won their first tie of the Vodafone Badminton Premier League Season 2, powered by Maruti Suzuki after they beat Chennai Smashers 5-2 at the Koramangala Indorr Stadium here today.
The duo of PV Sindhu and Chris Adcock playing mixed doubles match at PBL-2
Acers, who won three matches on the trot to go 3-0 up in the tie, needed their men’s doubles pair of Ivan Sozonov and Vladimir Ivanov pick up a win over the pair of Chris Adcock and Mads Pieler Kolding to put the tie out of Chennai’s reach.
Coming in with huge expectations and playing in a trump match, the heavyweight Delhi pair did not disappoint and displayed a dominant performance to win the match 11-6, 11-6 to take an unassailable 5-0 lead over Smashers.
In the last match of the tie, it was PV Sindhu, playing in the trump match for Smashers was up against Tanvi Lad of Acers. With the tie already sealed in favour of the Acers, it was for Sindhu to salvage two crucial points and maintain their top position on the points table. And as expected, it was Sindhu who eventually prevailed and won the match 11-6, 11-7 to go to third position on the points table with 10 points.
Earlier, mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Vladimir Ivanov beat the pair of Chris Adcock and PV Sindhu of Chennai Smashers to hand defending champions Delhi Acers grab an early 2-0 lead in the tie.
Smashers who were one down in the tie looked like they would bounce back after their experiential pair produced a dominating performance to take the first game 11-7. With a game up it looked like Chennai’s gamble would pay off but Jwala and Ivanov got their act together to win their second game 11-4.
In the decider, Sindhu and Adcock tried their best to get past their much experienced opponents, however Jwala and Ivanov did not let go off the momentum and won the game 11-9 to win their second match of the tie.
In the third match of the tie, Son Wan Ho did not lose much sweat to beat P Kashyap of Smashers 12-10, 11-4 in the third match to give Acers a lead of 3-0.
In the first match of the tie, Jan O Jorgensen put the defending champions Delhi Acers back on the winning path after he beat Tommy Sugiarto of Chennai Smashers.
Delhi who are currently lying at the bottom of the table and are virtually out of contention for the knock-outs finally got their winning mojo back and salvage some pride.
Jorgensen came from a game down to beat Sugiarto of Chennai Smashers 10-12, 11-4, 11-6 and take an early 1-0 advantage in the tie.
Jorgensen started the match on the attacking note and was looking favourite to win the first game as he raced to a 9-5 lead. On the cusp of a loss, Sugiarto however launched a strong fight back to take the game 12-10.
Jorgensen who lost the opening game from a strong position made a good comeback to win the second game 4-11. With the match tied 1-1, Jorgensen was at his brutal best to end the game 11-6 to win the match and give Acers a much needed win.
Points Tally
|
Position |
Team |
Tie Played |
Total Point |
|
1 |
Awadhe Warriors |
3 |
14 |
|
2 |
Mumbai Rockets |
3 |
12 |
|
3 |
Chennai Smashers |
4 |
10 |
|
4 |
Hyderabad Hunters |
4 |
9 |
|
5 |
Bengaluru Blasters |
3 |
7 |
|
6 |
Delhi Acers |
4 |
6 |