PBL semi-final: Chennai smash Awadhe aside

New Delhi: P.V. Sindhu won the battle of India’s badminton queens when she outpointed Saina Nehwal 11-7, 11-8 in the first semi-final of the ongoing Premier Badminton League at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium here on Friday night to pull the Chennai Smashers back into contention.

In a face-off that went down to the wire, Chennai Warriors went through to the final by a 4-1 margin

Table-toppers Awadhe Warriors of Lucknow took a surprise early lead when Thais Bodin Isara and Savitree Amitrapai outduelled the hitherto unbeaten Chris and Gabrielle Adcock, 2014 Commonweath Games gold medallists, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 in the opening match but Parupalli Kashyap levelled it with a clinical 11-4, 11-6 win over Vincent Wong Wing Ki of the Warriors.

Kidambi Srikanth opened the gap again when he beat Chennai’s Tommy Sugiarto 14-12, 11-7 before Olympic silver medallist Sindhu won the first trump match to push the Smashers ahead 3-2 for the first time.

In the decisive men’s doubles — also a trump match — pitting Lucknow’s V. Shem Goh and Markis Kido against Adcock and Mads Pieler Kolding of the Smashers, the Chennai duo held all the aces in a 11-3, 12-10 win.