Bengaluru: P. V. Sindhu sparkled but the Hyderabad Hunters went down 3-4 to Delhi Smashers in the Premier Badminton League at the Sree Kanteereva Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. The loss does no harm as Hyderabad have already qualified for the semifinals of the tournament.
H. S. Prannoy and Rahul Yadav Chittaboina kicked off the tie in the singles category. Prannoy dictated the pace of the game early with a four-point lead as he drew Rahul Yadav to his weaker side and won the first game convincingly 15-10. Rahul got into his grove in the second game as he went 9-4 up, and took the second game 15-9 taking the first match in the tie to the deciding game. Prannoy clinched the decider 15-12, albeit a few nervy moments as Rahul saved four match points.
In the men’s doubles, it was Biao Chai & Maneepong Jongjit of Delhi and Arun George & Bodin Isara of Hyderabad with Delhi opting for this as their trump match. Delhi won 8-15, 15-9, 15-8 to lead 3-0 after two matches in the tie.
Sindhu stamped her authority as she dispatched Evgeniya Kosetskaya 15-11 in the first game of Hyderabad’s trump match before taking the second at 15-9 to pull Hyderabad back into the tie at 2-3.
Tommy Sugiarto of Delhi Smashers defeated Mark Caljouw in the men’s singles 15-6, 15-11 effectively closing the tie with one more match still left to play.
The duo of Sa Rang Kim and Eom Hye Won defeated Chia Hsin Lee and Sijie Wang 15-7, 15-12 in the mixed doubles category which was effectively a dead rubber.
