Premier Badminton League: Misfiring Hyderabad Hunters humiliated at home
Hyderabad: The final day of the Hyderabad leg of the Premier Badminton League on Monday went by in a haze of disinterest. The handful of spectators who came to the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium here were left sorely disappointed, first by their home side Hyderabad Hunters’ third straight defeat and then, by an injury and illness-induced no-show by Saina Nehwal.
The Hunters lost to Mumbai Rockets 1-4 and later, Awadhe Warriors defeated Chennai Smashers by a similar scoreline.
World No.2 Saina has been carrying a foot injury and played in only two matches out of five in the PBL. “I haven’t completely recovered from my ankle injury,” Saina said. “I’ve also been suffering from a bad fever and cold ever since the Lucknow leg,” she revealed.
In Saina’s stead, Vrushali represented the Warriors in women’s singles and lost tamely to Sindhu 7-15, 3-15.
Earlier, the Hunters’ campaign came to an ignominious end. The result will rankle even more considering the hosts had won the opening two matches before they completely lost the plot.
Supanida Katethong started things off with a come-from-behind 13-15, 15-14, 15-14 victory in women’s singles against Liu Zi Die. The men’s doubles pair of Carsten Mogensen and Markis Kido, playing with boundless energy, defeated Mumbai’s Vladimir Ivanov and Chayut Triyachart 15-7, 15-14 to make it 2-0 in the hosts’ favour.
That was when things began to unravel for the Hunters. Homegrown shuttler Parupalli Kashyap just could not snap his losing streak, surrendering his Trump match to H.S. Prannoy. The Commonwealth Games champion lost 11-15, 14-15 and, as per the rules for Trump matches, Hyderabad were docked a point, reducing the scoreline to 1-1.
Mumbai’s Guru Sai Dutt made no mistake in dispatching the young Siril Verma for a 15-12, 15-4 victory in his Trump match, giving Mumbai a two-point lead at 3-1. The mixed doubles pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Kamilla Rytter Juhl then put the Hunters out of their misery with a commanding 15-8, 15-8 win against an out-of-sorts Jwala Gutta and Markis Kido to wrap the tie.
