Ahmedabad: Kidambi Srikanth led his team, Bengaluru Raptors to the much-needed victory by handing Saina Nehwal’s North Eastern Warriors a 4-3 defeat in the 2018/2019 season of Premier Badminton League (PBL) in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Bengaluru’s former world champion pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan bounced back from a defeat in their last match to grind out a 15-14, 15-11 Trump win over the Warriors’ Liao Min Chun and Yoo Yeon Seong in the men’s doubles match.
Kidambi Srikanth then took the court against Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of the North Eastern. Srikanth’s strong attack helped him notched up the first set 15-11. Srikanth continued his aggressive style in the second set to wrap up the second set 15-12.
Up next, the Commonwealth Games champion Saina Nehwal was facing off against Vu Thi Trang of Bengaluru Raptors. Playing in front of her supporters, the Indian’s precise shot making forced Vu to commit a lot of unforced errors before winning 15-10, 15-7 in her Trump match.
In an enthralling second men’s singles match, Bengaluru Raptors’ Sai Praneeth gave his team the eventual victory as he had to dig deep to stave off a spirited challenge from Tian Houwei 12-15, 15-6, 15-7.
In the last match of the tie, Liao Min Chun and Kim Ha Na of North Eastern Warriors managed to recover some lost ground for their team by beating Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith 15-11, 15-9 and to bring the overall score to 4-3 in favor of Bengaluru Raptors.
