PBL: Sugiarto masterclass helps Delhi regain top spot

Mumbai’s quest to confirm the semi-final spot got off to the perfect start as the mixed doubles pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Kamilla Juhl registered a comfortable victory over the Indian pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Aparna Balan. Dewalkar and Aparna partnered each other for the first time in the tournament after Delhi, having secured the semi-final spot, opted to rest their No.1 pair of Koo Keat Kien and Gabrielle Adcock. But their ploy backfired horribly as the Indian pair went down 13-15, 11-15 against their formidable opponents.

Having gone 1-0 up in the match, Mumbai placed their trump on 18-year old youngster Ruthvika Shivani Gadde in the Women’s Singles tie. The young gun seemed the favourite as she took on World No.96 P C Thulasi, who has been struggling in this edition of PBL with two losses in two matches. However, the 24-year old Keralite emerged the winner beating the younger Ruthvika in a closely-contested match winning it 15-11, 8-15, 15-13 to reverse the scores with Delhi now taking a 1-0 lead.

The awaited match of the afternoon was the encounter between World No.11 Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia and World No.20 H S Prannoy of India. Prannoy had the better start to the match racing to a 6-2 lead with a hairpin drop outfoxing the Indonesian, who had registered an upset against former World No.1 Lee Chong Wei earlier in the tournament. Cashing in on the Indian's unforced errors at the net, Sugiarto cameback into the match with five consecutive points to go into the break with an 8-7 lead.

Resuming, the 27-year old Indonesian continued the good run with a 384km/h smash straight at Prannoy’s body to go into a two-point lead. Sugiarto took control of the game from there on with smash after smash bamboozling Prannoy to take the first game 15-8 by winning seven back-to-back points.

After struggling to cope up against Sugiarto’s high power smashes in the first game, Prannoy was forced to use a defensive game in the second round. The Indian's valiant defensive efforts were no match for the sublime show of badminton from the Indonesian. With the crowd chanting “Tommy, Tommy,” Sugiarto launched smash after smash with no return from the Indian. Prannoy produced a minor moment of cheer for himself as he launched a 410km/h smash to beat the Indonesian on the smash speed charts. The Indian’s record of losing the match after losing the first game continued as Sugiarto ran through him to take the match 15-6 to double Delhi’s lead.

The Malaysian men’s doubles pair of Koo Keat Kien and Tan Boon Heong took Delhi to an unassailable lead of 3-0 after beating Mathias Boe/Vladimir Ivanov 11-15, 15-12, 15-10 in a tight contest.

In the final Men’s Singles tie, Delhi used the trump on Rajeev Ouseph and he decimated R Gurusaidutt 15-7, 15- to give his team a 5-0 lead and the top spot in the table.

Mumbai Rockets vs Delhi Acers 5-0

1. Mixed Doubles: Vladimir Ivanov/Kamilla Juhl vs Akshay Dewalkar/Aparna Balan 15-13, 15-11

2. Women’s Singles: Ruthivika Shivani Gadde* vs P C Thulasi 11-15, 15-8, 13-15

3. Men’s Singles: H S Prannoy vs Tommy Sugiarto 8-15, 6-15

4. Men’s Doubles: Mathias Boe/Vladimir Ivanov vs Koo Keat Kien/Tan Boon Heong 15-11, 12-15, 10-15

5. Men’s Singles: R Gurusaidutt vs Rajeev Ouseph* 7-15, 10-15

(* signifies trump match)