PBL 2018 | Chennai Smashers face defeat against Delhi Dashers
Delhi Dashers emerged victorious over Chennai Smashers after Gabriella Adcock couldn't continue in her mixed doubles match suffering an injury as the match got called off. Delhi Dashers registered a 3-0 win over Chennai based team at Babu Banarasi Das UP Badminton Academy in Lucknow on Wednesday.
The Delhi based franchise managed to win their two men’s singles, women’s singles, and mixed doubles encounter. Chennai Smashers only win came in the men’s doubles clash, which was a trump game for Delhi.
In the opening match of the day, the Indo-Taiwanese men’s doubles combination of B Sumeeth Reddy and Lee Yang scored a superb 15-13, 15-11 victory over the Russian trump duo of Ivan Sozonov and Vladimir Ivanov to help Chennai Smashers open their account. The win helped Chennai to earn their first point of the evening, while Delhi saw -1 point as they lost their trump match.
Chennai team started well in the first game as they got off a good start rushing to a 3-0 lead before the World No. 8 Russian took the lead at 8-6 in the match. But after the break, the Delhi pair failed to maintain their momentum as they went down a game. In the second game, Sumeeth and Yang showed a brilliantly combined display. Yang played exceptionally well from the back-court as his deceptive drop shots and powerful smashes didn’t give any chance to Ivan and Vladimir to recover from an early 4-8 deficit, ending the game 11-15 loss and winning the first match.
In the second match of the day, Delhi managed a fabulous comeback thanks to a gritty fight shown by Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent, who defeated France’s Brice Leverdez 15-10, 15-13.
World No.15 Vincent started off on a positive note as he managed an 8-2 lead and it seemed that he would win the game without facing much of a challenge. Brice improved a lot throughout the game but it was not enough to stop the Hong Kong shuttler from taking the lead in the match. In the second game, although Brice showed gritty performance and better determination, it didn't stop the Delhi man from getting the victory.
This was followed by another men's singles clash that saw Delhi's Tian Houwei win the match 15-14, 15-10 beating Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk.
In the first game, Houwei started off well and took an 8-2 lead going into the break. But after the break, he couldn’t maintain his stronghold as Tanongsak fought back into the match before he successfully snatching the lead. However, Tanongsak’s errors helped Houwei save three game points to eventually win the opening game.
In the second game, Tanongsak was leading 8-5 mid-way before his back to back errors allowed Houwei to get back into the match and finally emerge victorious with 15-10.
The fourth encounter of the day was women's singles tie where shuttlers PV Sindhu and Sung Ji Hyun played against each other. It was a three-game battle that held everyone's breath until the very last minute. Sindhu winning the opening game 15-11, gave her team the needed confidence and hope but Hyun was not one to give up that easily. She fought back to win the second 15-13 that pushed the match into a decider. The final game was a neck-to-neck contest as the fans witnessed some brilliant play before Delhi's Hyun went on to the seal the game with a 15-14 win in the last game.
The final match of the tie saw mixed doubles in action and it was trump for Chennai where their trusted pair Chris Adcock and Gabriella Adcock were up against Ivanov and Ashwini Ponnappa. The fans were expecting a neck-to-neck battle as the game began on a good contest. However, to Chennai's misfortune, Gabriella twisted her ankle when the score was at 6-5 as she was attempting a shot and fell to the ground in severe pain. The team physios immediately rushed towards the court and the stretcher was brought on after some time. The match was consequently called off with the Chennai duo retiring hurt. Losing the trump meant a deduction in point and that handed Delhi the tie 3-0.
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