Sindhu beats Saina to guide Chennai Smashers to PBL final

TIL Desk Sports/ Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu inspired the Chennai Smashers to beat Awadhe Warriors 4-1 in the first semi-final and storm into the finals of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium on Friday. Chennai will now take on the winner of the second semi-final between Hyderabad Hunters and Mumbai Rockets, which will take place later in the night.

As expected the marquee Trump match for Chennai between the two poster girls of Indian badminton — Saina Nehwal and Sindhu — turned out to be a pulsating contest with the Rio Olympics silver medallist clinching it 11-7, 11-8. World No.9 Saina started off well to edge past Sindhu 6-5 in the break before the 21-year-old World No.10 bounced back in style to take four consecutive points and clinch the first game 11-7.

The second game witnessed Sindhu quickly taking a 6-3 lead in the break before a resilient Saina used all her experience to inch closer and make it 8-9 but the lanky Sindhu held her nerve to clinch two crucial points as Chennai took back the lead 3-2. Earlier, Awadhe Warriors grabbed the lead in the first game of the evening, as World No. 10 Thailand duo of Bodin Isara and Savitree Amitrapai came back from a game down to defeat England’s Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock 9-11, 11-8, 11-5.