The Premier Badminton league got off to the best possible start with high profile stars, PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin locking horns on the first day itself, when the Hyderabad Hunters took on the Chennai Smashers at the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad today!
The high voltage clash lived up to the expectations as Sindhu and Marin treated us to some sublime badminton over 3 gruelling sets. But Sindhu couldn’t get the better of Marin this time and ultimately succumbed to the World number 2 in the deciding set.
Carolina Marin had looked completely out of sorts the last time she played Sindhu but seemed to have got her mojo back for this one, as she looked her dominating self on court.
Marin was quick to stamp her authority on the fixture, as she quickly wrapped up the first set 11-8, giving Sindhu no real chance of making any inroads.
The second game was when Sindhu finally found her footing, saving 4 match points to make an incredible comeback, taking the set 14-12
However, the third set proved to be a landslide victory for Marin, as she romped to a 8-1 lead and finally ended the match with a 11-2 thumping!
In the men’s singles match up, the Hunters’ B Sai Praneeth couldn’t replicate his Canada Open exploits, as he succumbed to a rather tame 11-6, 11-8 loss to last year’s MVP, Tommy Sugiarto.
The Adcocks then took over, thoroughly dominating the Hunters’ mixed double pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Hoi Wah Chau. The English pair comfortably won the Trump match to put the smashers up 3-1.
And this is exactly when the Hunters changed the tide and scripted an almost impossible comeback. Rajiv Ouseph of the Hyderabad Hunters came back from a set down to defeat the reigning Denmark Open Champion, Tanongsak S.
It all came down to the men’s doubles encounter, as it was a trump match for the Hyderabad franchise, meaning if they won it, they would clinch the match.
The Malaysian pair of Tan Wee Kiong and Tan Boon Heong absolutely thrashed the Smashers’ pairing of Kolding and Reddy to complete the comeback for the Hyderabad Hunters!
