london Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and 2014 China Open champion Kidambi Srikanth won their respective matches as Awadhe Warriors beat Bengaluru Blasters 4-3 to seal their semifinals spot at the Premier Badminton Premier Season 2, here on Monday.
Saina staved off a challenge from Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi in their women's singles trump match, while Srikanth too stunned Rio bronze medallist Viktor Axelsen in another men's singles match to guide Warriors home.
Bengaluru Blasters had kept their hopes of making to the last four alive after Sourabh Verma had beaten Vincent Wong Wing Ki of Awadhe Warriors to give his team an early 1-0 lead infront of a packed house at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium.
But mixed doubles combo of Savitree Amitrapai and Bodin Isar, star shuttlers Saina and Srikanth ensured that Warriors comfortably reach the knockout stage.
After this win, Warriors grabbed the opening position at the table with 18 points, while the Blasters are in the third spot with 11 points. Mumbai Rockets (16) and Chennai Smashers (10) are at the second and fourth place respectively.
Earlier in the day, Warriors' Wing Ki began on an attacking note and opened up a considerable lead in the opening game. With lot at stake, Sourabh slowly got his act together to erase the deficit and win the game 13-11.
With the opening game in his pocket, Sourabh dominated the second game from the onset to eventually run away with the game 11-7.
In the second match of the tie, Savitree Amitrapai and Bodin Isara took the court and the pair immediately brought their team to level par after they defeated Sung Hyun Ho and Siki Reddy of Blasters 11-9 4-11 11-5 in a mixed doubles encounter.
In the second men's singles, 2014 China Open winner Kidambi Srikanth then stunned World No. 3 Axelsen 11-9 11-9 to give a 2-1 lead to the Awadhe Warriors.
Former World No. 1 Saina then eked out a come-from-behind 9-11 11-5 11-5 win over Cheung Ngan Yi in the women's singles tie which was the trump match for the Warriors to grab two crucial points and make it 4-1.
Bengaluru's Sung Hyun Ko and Yeon Seong then managed to upstage Warriors' men's doubles pair of V Shem Goh and Markis Kido 6-11 11-9 11-6 in the last match of the tie, which was also the trump match for Bengaluru, to grab two crucial points but it was not enough.
Sinha removed from post
BAI General Secretary Vijay Sinha was removed from his post in an unanimous decision taken during the Executive Committee Meeting held on the sidelines of the Premier Badminton league Season 2, here on Monday.
The decision was taken by BAI President Akhilesh Das Gupta by exercising his emergency powers and it was unanimously ratified.
Anup Narang has been nominated and authorized to act as the Hony. General Secretary (Officiating) of the Association. Dr. Sinha has been facing a judicial inquiry with regard to the charges of embezzlement, misappropriation, fraud, nepotism, favoritism, misconduct, harassment of players.
It was also decided that an Annual General meeting of the Association be convened at the earliest by Narang so as to give effect to the resolutions passed in this executive committee meeting with regard to taking of disciplinary action against Sinha.
The Executive Committee also passed several other resolutions, including that of organizing an annual event namely "Badminton Star Night" in which prizes to the players, coaches, umpires, officials and support staff would be awarded. In the executive committee meeting, the performances of badminton players of last year were also lauded and the committee approved the prize money awarded to various players and coaches.
A Prizes money of Rs 15 lakhs announced earlier to Chief National Badminton Coach Pullela Gopichand has also been enhanced to Rs 25 lakhs. The EC also explored the possibility of organising a "Domestic Badminton league" in India with Indian shuttlers and Asian Badminton league in collaboration with Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) and Badminton World Federation.