MATCH REPORT: Praneeth is star of match as the Warriors beat Delhi to register 1st PBL win
SAI PRANEETH WAS THE HERO OF THE MATCH as he gave his team Awadhe Warriors their first win of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) 4-3 against Delhi Acers at the Babu Banarasi Das Badminton Stadium, Lucknow on Monday.
The first match was the men's singles contest between Tanongsak of Awadhe and Tommy Sugiarto of Delhi. Tommy won the match 15-13, 15-11 and gave the Acers their first win and put them in the lead. Both the shuttlers were sweating it out to win the match for their team. Tommy was the better shuttler of the day even though Tanongsak had an upper hand over the former at international stage.
“He was very good. While I won the match in two games, he gave me a tough fight. I had to keep a complete check on his shots as he mixed it very well. I am happy I won and opened the account for my team," said Tommy.
Second match was the women's singles match between Saina Nehwal of Awadhe and PC Thulasi of Delhi. The top Indian shuttler, Nehwal won the match easily 15-9, 15-10 in 32 minutes. This was the Trump match for the Warriors. Thulasi took an early lead of 5-3 but then Saina hit back and took the lead 8-5 and from there on she didn't give it away. Saina went on to win the first game 15-9.
The world no. 2 found her rhythm back in the second set and took an early lead of 6-2 and maintained the lead till the interval. Though Thulasi looked like she was struggling early on, she took pace and fought back to cut the lead to two points. But Saina doing what she does best, not giving points easily, won her team the crucial two points.
“She started off well and she is good with her net play and I enjoyed playing those shots with her. It is great to win in front of your home crowd. It was my first match of the League and it produced a productive result as it was a Trump match for our side. We hope to win the tie from here," said Saina.
The men's doubles contest saw Yun/Issara of Awadhe beat Heong/Kien of Delhi 15-12, 15-14. It was a neck-to-neck battle between the pair till 12-12. The best rally of the league until now was in this doubles contest. A rally of 66 shots is what it took to level the scores.
The Warriors pair then took the remaining three points to win the first game. The second game started at the same pace keeping the fans and the teammates on the edge of their seats. The match finally went to Yun/Issara of the Warriors, the best match of the league till now.
The second men's singles was between Sai Praneeth of Awadhe who won 15-12, 15-9 against Rajiv Ouseph of Delhi. The Englishman had to win this match to keep the Acers' hopes alive. Ouseph was comfortably in the lead till 12 points and Praneeth levelled the scores at 12-12 and then to everyone's surprise the Indian shuttler took the remaining three points to win the first game. Amazing comeback by the Indian, putting the pressure on Ouseph.
Ouseph brought the best out of Praneeth as he continued the great performance in the second game too, keeping a lead of two points throughout. Every time Rajiv thought he was better, Praneeth would hit back strongly. A 11-9 lead to winning the game and finally the match.
Praneeth was the hero of the match as he gave his team their first win of the league. Going into the final tie, Warriors were leading 4-1.
The mixed doubles contest was the final match of the day, Gunawan/Maneesha of Awadhe against Dewalkar/Gabrielle of Delhi. This was the Trump match for the Acers. Yet another neck-to-neck tie in the first game. Looking at how the game spanned out, it looked like Warriors pair would win it but Dewalkar/Gabrielle took it to their name instead.
In the second game, the Warriors pair made a comeback and won 15-13 to take it to the decider. The final game went to the Delhi pair as they won the Trump match and 2 points. But that was no sufficient as the Praneeth win had ensured a 4-3 victory for the Warrriors.
