Saina-less Awadhe Warriors lose first match of PBL 2016 to Mumbai Rockets

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

01/02/2016

The re-christened Premier Badminton League 2.0 that began today did live up to the massive expectations set in the build-up despite marquee player Saina Nehwal's surprising withdrawal – at least until the first match. Handicapped by her absence, Awadhe Warriors suffered a 1-2 loss against Mumbai Rockets in Mumbai.

The tournament aptly began with two Indians taking to the court for the first match - Gurusaidutt of Mumbai Rockets was pitted against B Sai Praneeth of Awadhe Warriors.

Sai Praneeth was in good rhythm initially and zoomed to a five point lead at 7-2 and was on course for the set until 12-5, but lost the plot as unforced errors crept into his game. Gurusaidutt calmly capitalized on it and caught up with Sai to level at 14-14. The game ended with a nail-biting long rally that saw see-saw shifts before Gurusaidutt made an unforced error to hand the game over to Sai Praneeth.

Gurusaidutt was the one to take the momentum from the first set despite losing it and quickly raced to a 4-0 and soon an 8-2 lead with some good attacking play and no less aided by unforced errors from Sai. Sai almost caught up to make it 7-9, but an agonizingly close missed drop gave the serve back to Gurusaidutt. Gurusaidutt took charge from there on to close out the set 15-10 despite some token resistance from Sai.

Both players went neck-to-neck till 6-7 in the third set before Gurusaidutt made a brilliant body smash to win the serve back. The lower-ranked Indian then went on an all-out attacking display to which Sai had no answer. Gurusaidutt brought up the shot of the match at 13-8, setting up Sai with a lob to his backhand before letting loose a screaming forehand that left Sai stranded mid-court. The game ended at 15-8 with an unforced error from Sai - characteristic of his performance today.

In a bid to recover from the early loss, Awadhe made the second one a trump match. A trump match, according to PBL rules, would award two points to Awadhe if they win it, while a negative point if they lost it. The move back-fired as Yun/Gunawan of Awadhe lost to Boe/Ivanov of Mumbai 11-15, 11-15 to go into the negative with the overall score at -1 - +2.

In the third match, Vrushali, who replaced Saina in the Awadhe line-up, failed to help her team out of the negative as she lost to Ruthvika Gadde of Mumbai 13-15, 10-15 to make the score -1 - +3, putting the match firmly our of Awadhe's reach.

The next tie between Mumbai's H S Prannoy and Awadhe's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk was Mumbai's trump match. With the match already in Mumbai's kitty, Saensomboonsuk gave Awadhe their first and only consolation win with a thrilling 15-12, 14-15, 15-14 win to take them to 0 - 2. PBL teams seem to be taking time to figure out their strong and weak points and the trump strategy overall as both teams ended up losing their chosen bouts.

In the final match, Ivanov/Juhl of Mumbai lost to Issara/Pedersen in a nail-biting finish after holding two match points in the final set 9-15, 15-14, 14-15.

The next match of the PBL will see Hyderabad Hunters take on Bengaluru Topguns tomorrow.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Rockets vs Awadhe Warriors 2-1

Guru Sai Dutt vs B Sai Praneeth 14-15, 15-10, 15-8

Boe/Ivanov vs Yun/Gunawan* 15-11,15-11

Ruthvika Gadde vs Vrushali 15-13, 15-10

H S Prannoy* vs Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 12-15, 15-14, 14-15

Ivanov/Juhl vs Issara/Pedersen 9-15, 15-14, 14-15

*signifies team that took trump match