PBL 4: Bengaluru Raptors fly high with maiden title

BENGALURU: Bengaluru Raptors edged past Mumbai Rockets 4-3 in front of a boisterous home crowd to win their maiden Premier Badminton League title at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Sunday. Former champions Mumbai Rockets suffered their second loss in the finals whereas it was a moment to cherish for Bengaluru as they lost the final last year to Hyderabad Hunters.

The opening tie was the mixed doubles clash between the English duo of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith for Bengaluru pitted against the Asian pair of Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth and Kim Gi Jung representing Mumbai. 

Mumbai made full utilization of the trump card for this tie as the Asian pair dominated the tie and gained two crucial points for the side. 

Trailing by two points after the first match, Kidambi Srikanth gave Bengaluru crucial point after beating Anders Antonsen.

The last instance when they met each other, Kidambi hammered him, this time also it was no different as the Indian won 15-7, 15-10. 

Likewise Mumbai, Bengaluru opted for their trump match wisely as Thi Thrang Vu, ranked 34 in the world faced India’s Shreyanshi Pardeshi, who is just making her mark in the international circuit. Unfortunately for Mumbai, Shreyanshi was no match for Thrang as Vietnamese clinched the game by 15-8, 15-9 and grabbing two points which placed Bengaluru ahead by 3-2 with two matches left.

In a riveting fourth match, Sameer Verma emerged as the winner and kept the hopes alive for Mumbai, as he beat Sai Praneeth 7-15, 15-12, 15-3. 

With the scores level, the duo of Mohammad Ahsaan, Hendra Setiawan kept their nerves intact and defeated the South Korean pair of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Young Dae 15-13,15-10 and guiding their side to victory without any troubles.