Hyderabad: Although Lee Chong Wei gave a spectacular performance in the second men’s singles match for Hyderabad Hunters in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to carry his team to victory as the Hunters fell to Awadhe Warriors 3-4.
In the absence of Saina Nehwal, G Vrushali started the women’s singles match for Awadhe Warriors. The 17-year-old Vrushali who was trained in Gopichand Badminton Academy, gave Hunters’ Supanida Katethong a run for her money and won the match 15-7, 15-11.
The men’s doubles match saw three former World No. 1 men’s doubles players Carsten Mogensen (Hyderabad Hunters), Markis Kido (Hyderabad Hunters) and Cai Yun (Awadhe Warriors) battle it out to bring victory for their own team.
Cai Yun and Bodin Issara were unbeaten going into the tie, and they put up a spirited fight against the previously-rested pair of Mogensen and Kido. The unwavering Bodin Issara and Cai Yun proved too strong to quickly clinch the match with an easy 15-10 15-12 win in 27 minutes. Since Awadhe Warriors had selected this as their Trump match, and therefore they were leading 3-0 after the match.
Hyderabad’s Commonwealth Games gold medalist Parupalli Kashyap, started off with a 15-6 win in the first game against his junior rival Sai Praneeth in the first men’s singles match, but Kashyap was unable to sustain his form in the second and third set to go down 15-8, 15-5. Hyderabad Hunters were trailed 0-4 after Kashyap’s match.
Next up, Lee Chong Wei was the significant favorite to win the second men’s singles match against Tanongsak S of Awadhe. Playing more aggressively, Lee won first game 15-8. In a one-sided second set, Lee Chong Wei gave no chance at all to Tanongsak as the Malaysian shuttler dominated his Awadhe Warriors’ opponent to win the second game 15-9. The Hyderabad Hunters had selected Lee’s match as their trump match, and his win was able to make up ground for Hunters at 2-4.
“It was a tough day for our team. We’ve already lost the tie but my Trump match victory could at least close the points gap,” said Lee.
The pair of Jwala Gutta and Markis Kido of Hyderabad defeated Bodin Issara and Christinna in the mixed doubles 12-15, 15-14, 15-9 to bring the final results to 3-4 with Awadhe Warriors came out on top.
