PBL 2018 | Awadhe Warriors suffer defeat against Mumbai Rockets

PBL 2018 | Awadhe Warriors suffer defeat against Mumbai Rockets

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PBL

With the help of the overall dominant performance, Mumbai Rockets emerged victorious over Awadhe Warriors which helped them stay alive in the Premier Badminton League. Mumbai Rockets registered 4-1 win over UP based franchise in the tie at the Babu Banarasi Das UP Badminton Academy in Lucknow.

The Mumbai based team managed to win their mixed doubles, men’s singles, and men’s doubles encounter. Awadhe Warriors, who lead the table, won women’s singles and men’s singles clash thanks to Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth respectively.

The first tie of the day was a mixed doubles contest in which Christinna Pedersen and Tang Chung presented Awadhe for their trump match against Mumbai's pair Lee Yong Dae and Gabriela Stoeva but unfortunately, the Awadhe duo lost 10-15, 15-14, 7-15. This disappointment put Awadhe in a negative point because they failed to convert the crucial match in their favor.

The unfortunate didn’t leave the hand of the Warriors in the second game of the day as Mumbai’s men’s singles shuttler Sameer Verma increased their lead by beating Harshit Aggarwal 15-6, 15-14. The young Harshit came as a replacement for Parupalli Kashyap in the line-up but he failed to give any challenge in the front of his senior in the opening game. But he tried to make a comeback in the second game as he seemed in a good touch but Sameer used his experience at the crucial time. 

The third clash of the day was the women’s singles encounter where the fans got a chance to see star player Nehwal’s game who played against Mumbai’s Beiwen Zhang. The Indian shuttler managed to bring back her team into the game as she defeated her opponent 8-15, 15-10, 15-13. 

The US shuttler used the length of the court perfectly and her superb cross-court drops and smashes helped her to win the opening game without wasting a time. But Nehwal, who known for her bounce back ability, gave a chance to celebrate the home crowd as she entered the break with an 8-7 lead. Even after the interval, she didn’t allow Zhang to grab too many points and wrapped up the game. In the final and decider of the match, the Indian used her all experience against her opponent who seemed tired and went into the break with a lead of 8-4. After the interval, Zhang troubled Nehwal with her superb net-play but the Hyderabad shuttler ended the game on winning note for Awadhe but Mumbai still held the lead 2-0.

In the next match of the day, World No. 3 Srikanth managed to overcame a strong challenge from South Korea's World No. 5 Son Wan Ho as he registered a thrilling 15-13, 13-15, 15-4 victory and reduce Awadhe's deficit and opened the team’s score tally as well.

And the final match of the tie was a men’s doubles encounter where Lee Yong Dae and Tan Boon played for Mumbai against Hendra Setiawan and Chin Chung. It was a trump game for Mumbai and they successfully launched their rockets in the last encounter of the day as the Mumbai duo defeated their opponents in straight games 15-13, 15-12 giving their team the tie 4-1.

Despite losing the tie Awadhe still hold the top position with 13 points in the league table and Mumbai Rockets spotted on the fifth position with ten points in 20 games.

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