Delhi Acers' bounced back from two straight defeats in the Premier Badminton league to win their first tie in the competition and that too at home. The visitors Hyderabad Hunters were close to winning the tie in the fourth match but eventually lost out 1-4 at the Siri Fort Complex on Thursday.
On the day there were two surprises as Tommy Sugiarto beat lee Chong Wei with a shade of luck at the end and Parupalli Kashyap barely offered anything to go down tamely at the hands of Rajiv Ouseph. Playing in their own backyard, Delhi looked to be down and out to Hyderabad when Sugiarto and Chong Wei entered the court. Even though the Malaysian had lost his first match in the competition, one would have expected lightning not to strike twice. And this was familiar territory for the Malaysian.
Earlier, Kashyap's return from injury didn't look to be going well when he lost in straight games.Ouseph had the better of the Indian player at the French Open too and this time also it was no different. Kashyap made numerous errors — mostly on his backhand - to concede silly points and go down 9-15, 10-15 in 30 minutes.
Kashyap tried and failed on various moments to push Ouseph back but his shots would go long — leaving him frustrated.
That tide turned slightly in the second game, with Kashyap playing a much more efficient game. He was careful in his shot selection and his drops stayed very close to the net for a tall, lanky Rajiv to get down for. But that was shortlived. He started to get inconsistent with his play and once missed the shuttle entirely to explain the two's 3-3 head to head.
Up 2-1 after three matches, Hyderabad were using their trump card on a strong Chong Wei and one expected him to take the team to victory to effectively end the tie there and then. But Sugiarto had other ideas.
World No 5 Chong Wei started off well but his style of play turned from attacking to defensive to give the Indonesian the much-needed boost.
Even though Chong Wei saved four match points, he couldn't save the fifth - which as it turned out was at 14-14. To be fair to him, though, there was massive luck involved. Chong Wei did ever so well to keep the final point going but with Sugiarto's drop return hitting the net and tumbling over, there was nothing that he could do to return.
In the final match — men's doubles — a trump for Delhi, they made sure this one didn't slip up from their fingers. The combination of Koo Keat Kien and Tan Boon Heong dropped the second game but eventually won the third to win tie for Delhi.