Saina Nehwal lost to reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin but her side Awadhe Warriors still beat Hyderabad Hunters in a Premier Badminton league encounter at the Gachibowli indoor stadium here on Monday night.
As Hyderabad lost the men's doubles, which was their Trump Match, they had to sacrifice the one point they secured from Marin's victory over Saina, and so the scorline of 5-0.
Awadhe's Wing Ki Vincent Wong set the ball rolling for his team's victory in the first match of the day (men's singles) with a win against Hyderabad's B Sai Praneeth.
Sai Praneeth, who is ranked well below his rival from Hong Kong, put up a strong fight and pulled off a win in the first game. Sai Praneeth is ranked 36, while Wong is ranked 17. However, Wong came back strong into the match and won the second game 11-6. The third game, marked by long rallies between the two shuttlers, was a see-saw battle and Wong had the last laugh with a 13-11 win.
The second match, the women's singles between Saina and Marin, was the most awaited contest of the day.
Saina, who recently recovered from a knee injury, fought hard in the first game and the remarkable rallies between the two was a treat for the spectators.
Marin won the first game 15-14 and went on to dominate the second game also. Saina put up a stiff resistance in the second game, but that was not enough to stop the Spaniard. Marin, who won the gold in the Rio Olympics and is currently ranked number two in the world, won the second game 11-5.
Awadhe Warriors received a boost to its chances with its pair of Savitree Amitrapal-Bodin Isara clinching a comfortable 11-9 and 12-10 win in the mixed doubles match against Hoi Wah Chau-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy of Hyderabad Hunters. Awadhe secured two points as the mixed doubles match was their Trump Match.
Awadhe's Kidambi Srikanth confirmed his team's victory in the tie with a hard fought 11-13, 11-7, 13-11 win against Hyderabad's Rajiv Ouseph.
With the win depending on the outcome of the third game, the two players left nothing to chance and the spectators were literally on the edge of their seats. Srikanth, however, pulled off a sweet 13-11 win in the third game.
With Awadhe leading the match 4-1, the last match (men's doubles between V Shem Goh-Markis Kido of Awadhe and Hyderabad's Boon Heong Tan-Wee Kiong Tan) was rendered inconsequential as the host team would have got only two points even if it were to win.
Marin beats Sindhu
Olympic champion Carolina Marin kicked-off the second edition of Premier Badminton league in style winning a closely contested encounter against PV Sindhu guiding Hyderabad Hunters to 4-3 win over Chennai Smashers. The marquee match saw the Spanish girl enjoying the last laugh winning 11-8 12-14 11-2.
Chennai came back into the contest with Tomy Sugiarto winning the first men's singles beating B Sai Praneeth to make it 1-1.
The top British husband-wife pair of Chris and Gabby Adcock won the mixed doubles rubber which Chennai had marked as their 'Trump match'. The win gave them two points and made it 3-1.
In a must-win second men's singles match of the day, Rajiv Ouseph of Hyderabad scored a thrilling 11-6 11-8 11-6 win against Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk to make it 2-3.
Hyderabad had no option but to choose the final men's doubles rubber as their 'Trump match' where Boon Heong Tan-Wee Kiong Tan beat Mads Pieter Kolding-B Sumeeth Reddy 11-7 and 11-8 to make it 4-3.
Earlier in the Marin versus Sindhu encounter, the first game saw the Spaniard opening the scoring, only for Sindhu to equalise soon after. It was a to and fro action with both the players scoring on regulation. With scores tied 4-4, it was the Spaniard who opened up a three points gap to go up 9-6. Sindhu pulled one back, but Marin quickly stole one more point to go up 10-8.
With game point in her favour, Marin did not try to do anything enterprising and was eventually rewarded for her patience as the Chennai player hit the nets to let her rival walk away with the opening game.
In the second game, it was Marin who started from where she left and took the attack straight to her opponent. She notched up points at will to go 5-2 up and it looked like she will not have to lose much sweat in the second game.
However, Sindhu had other plans and she fought her way back to take five consecutive points to lead the game 7-5. The Spaniard however was in no mood to let go her opponent so easily and she took four points on the trot to go up 9-7.