TIL Desk Sports/ World Championship silver medallist PV Sindhu began the New Year with a morale-boosting win over compatriot Saina Nehwal to give defending champions Hyderabad Hunters a 3-1 lead over North Eastern Warriors in the fourth edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Balewadi stadium here on Tuesday.
Sindhu, who had lost her last two matches in the PBL against Sung Ji Hyun and Beiwen Zhang, was keen to start the year with a win and there couldn’t have been a bigger opponent across the net than Saina as the two shuttle queens of Indian badminton would have been keen to earn the bragging rights early in the year, as Sindhu finally ended the match with a 11-15, 15-9, 15-5 win.
Saina, who had sat out of the earlier three matches of North Eastern Warriors due to a shin injury, was definitely not 100 percent and was seen struggling for stamina following long rallies but the way she fought back from a 7-10 deficit to clinch seven straight points and then wrap up the opening game showed that the former world number one was not going to go out without a fight.
