PBL: Chennai beat Awadhe Warriors 4-3

TIL Desk Sports/ Chennai Smashers beat Awadhe Warriors 4-3 of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday. In the first match of the tie between the teams who already have reached the semi-finals, Vincent Wong Wing Ki beat Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk of Chennai Smashers 6-11, 11-9, 12-10 in the first match to give an early lead for Awadhe.

Chennai soon equalised as British Adcock couple, Chris and Gabrielle extended their unbeaten run in the league with a 11-4, 11-9 win over inexperienced Bodin Issara and Prajakta Sawant. Parupalli Kashyap won Chennai’s ‘Trump Match’, beating youngster Aditya Joshi 11-7, 5-11, 11-7 to make it 3-1 for the southern outfit.

Rio Olympic 2016 silver medallist P.V. Sindhu sealed the tie for Chennai as she gave a nice badminton tutorial to Rituparna Das with a 11-4, 11-6 triumph. Awadhe’s Saina Nehwal decided not to play this match which would have pitted the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist against the double World Championships bronze medallist.

Having already lost the tie, Awadhe managed to win their ‘Trump Match’ as V. Shem Goh and Markis Kido beat Mads Pieler Kolding and B. Sumeeth Reddy 12-10, 11-8 in the men’s doubles match. Despite winning the match, Awadhe lost the tie 3-4. Despite the win, Awadhe moved to the top of the standings with 21 points from five games, while Chennai remained in the third position with 18 points from five games. Mumbai Rockets are second with 19 points from five matches.