P.V. Sindhu found an unlikely support from the local crowd as she helped a very determined Chennai Smashers side seal the tie 4-3 against hosts Hyderabad Hunters in their Premier Badminton League clash at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium at Gachibowli here on Sunday.
After winning the opening mixed doubles match, Chennai suffered a setback in the first men’s singles before storming back into the lead in the third match of the evening. Sindhu then defeated the Hunters’ Supanida Katethong 15-8, 14-15, 15-5 in her trump match to seal the deal for the Smashers.
The final clash — Hyderabad’s trump match against Chennai’s men’s doubles pairing of Chris Adcock and Pranaav Jerry Chopra — was a mere formality with the hosts’ Carsten Mogensen and Markis Kido, winning 15-12, 15-13.
Earlier, Hyderabad’s Lee Chong Wei defeated Sony Dwi Kuncoro but the local crowd-pullers Jwala Gutta and Parupalli Kashyap disappointed for the Hunters.
Hyderabad’s doubles star Jwala paired up with Carsten Mogensen for the mixed doubles tie against Chennai’s Chris Adcock and Pia Zebadiah. Showing none of the fight from the previous evening, Jwala and Mogensen surrendered meekly to the Chennai pairing in straight games 15-7, 15-7. The crowd kept egging on their home team, but the Hunters were error-prone, and the opening match was over soon.
Lee then won a one-sided match against Kuncoro, winning 15-3, 12-15, 15-8.
Lee began the match in a masterful fashion. Mixing booming smashes with cunning feints, Lee strung together a streak of nine straight points before taking the opening game 15-3. The second game was headed the same way when Kuncoro decided he was having none of it. With the scoreline poised at 12-4 in the second game, Kuncoro constructed an epic comeback, winning 11 straight points to seal the game and in the process, drew level.
Lee rediscovered his mojo in the decider and pocketed it 15-8 to restore parity. Kashyap then took the court. He seemed determined to atone for his loss to the Awadhe Warriors’ Sai Praneeth, but could do nothing to prevent Simon Santoso from registering a 15-12, 15-12 win.