PV Sindhu survived a scare, Chennai Smashers wins for the First Time in the tournament by 4-3 over Mumbai Rockets
The Vodafone Premier Badminton League (V-PBL) is one of the top badminton leagues in the world. Its playing field features the top Indian and international badminton talent in the world, including 8 Olympic Medal Winners. Besides showcasing the best of international and Indian talent. The tournament has also been successful in widening the base of the game.Season one of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League attracted more than 6 crore badminton fans in India through various social media and other platforms, and this number only increased in Season 2. Over the past few years, Indian players like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and many others have performed commendably internationally.
The league comprises of franchises from Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Guwahati. The third season of V-PBL is set to run from 23rd December to 14th January.
The Last Match:
PV Sindhu’s class and skill were on full display at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, on Wednesday night. She lost earlier this year to Beiwen Zhang. Sindhu showed so much character to win in 3 for ChennaiSmashers in a fierce Tie against Mumbai.
At first, Chennai fell behind in the opening encounter, with B. Sumeeth Reddy and Lee Yang losing to Lee Yong Dae and Tan Boon Heong 9-15, 6-15 in the Men’s Doubles. World No. 24 Brice Leverdez of France, however, staved off a staunch challenge from World No. 30 Sameer Verma to win 15-14, 10-15, 15-14 and brought the teams level.
Sindhu walked onto the court.Playing for Chennai Smashers in the PBL, Sindhu looked a bit unsure of herself when Zhang, a Chinese turned US citizen smashed her way to win the first game for Mumbai Rockets.
The cheerful crowd was quickly silenced when Beiwen Zhang won the first game. Sindhu began well but lost 12-15 to the World No. 11 from America with Chinese roots.
Trailing by a game, the Olympic silver medallist gave a scintillating performance and in the end. PV Sindhu received a standing ovation from the goodly crowd. That win put Chennai Smashers ahead 2-1 in the tie.
Former World No. 1 Son Wan Ho of South Korea, however, won his trump match, beating Tanongsak Saesomboonsuk of Thailand 15-11, 15-5 to take the clash into the decider while also giving them a 3-2 edge in points.
The Adcock couple from Great Britain, Chris, and Gabriela, then put up a grand show to beat MR Arjun and Gabriela Stoeva in an exciting mixed doubles’ clash to seal the tie for the Chennai Smashers.
The victory saw them jump ahead 4-3 on points as they had nominated this as their trump match.
Sindhu’s Reaction to the match:
” My problem was that I made some unforced errors in the first game and she was able to race away with it … she could finish it off rather easily, ” said Sindhu on her match against the world No. 11. She was later named the player of the day.
” In the second game, I was able to put her off and in the final game, I was confident.
Though she was leading 7- 4 at one point of time, I was sure of bouncing back, ” Sindhu added. PV Sindhu ‘ s aggressive posture was a treat to watch.
The league table now stands like this:
P – Matches Played W – Won L – Lost TMW – Trump matches won TML – Trump matches lost
For more of PBL… watch it on Star Sports & Hotstar until 14th of January, 2018. For more updates stay tuned…Liked our post? Do give us feedback about it 🙂
Sources: The Telegraph & Scroll.in
