Awadhe Warriors displayed yet another dominating performance to beat Delhi Acers 6-(-1) and to virtually knock them out of the semifinals reckoning in the Vodafone Premier Badminton league Season 2, powered by Maruti Suzuki in lucknow on Thursday.
With the win, Awadhe Warriors now have won nine out of 10 matches; to make it two in two ties and establish themselves as a clear favourite to go all the way in the tournament.
With a lot riding on Saina Nehwal, she did not fail to deliver on the expected lines and won a hard fought match against Nitchaon Jindapol of Acers 14-12, 11-7 to not only get her first win of the league, but also helped the Warriors take a 3-0 advantage over the Acers. In the match which was a repeat from the pre-quarters from Rio Olympics, Srikanth and Jorgensen were involved in a thrilling battle. While Srikanth was looking for an encore, it was revenge on Jorgensen's mind with the former finally winning the match 11-9, 11-13, 11-9.
Earlier in the day, the first match saw men's doubles action with V Shem Goh and Markis Kido of Warriors beat the pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Vladimir Ivanov of Acers 11-14, 11-4 to start on a positive note. In the mixed doubles encounter, Warriors pair of Bodin Issara and Savitree Amitrapai beat Jwala Gutta and Vladimir Ivanov of Acers 12-10, 11-5 to stretch the lead to 5-0.
In the final match of the tie, Son Wan Ho of Acers made took on Vincent Wong Wing Ki of Awadhe Warriors. It was a last chance for the Acers to salvage some pride out of the tie and reduce some damage as it was their trump match. But Wing Ki had other plans and he beat Son Wan 11-8, 11-6 to complete the rout.