Mumbai Rockets won 4-3 against Awadhe Warriors with to seal the tie and go to the second position on the points table in the Vodafone Premier Badminton league Season 2, powered by Maruti Suzuki here at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium on Friday.
Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors got her mojo back as she won her high profile clash against Sung Ji Hyun of Mumbai Rockets to pull one back for the Warriors after they went down 2-0.
With the clash extremely crucial for the teams as the winner would race to the top of the leaderboard, it was the match between Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors and Sung Ji Hyun of Mumbai Rockets that was the cynosure of all eyes. After an interesting battle, it was Saina who finally won the match 12-10, 4-11, 11-5.
The match started on an even note with both the players winning points on regular intervals. But it was eventually Saina who got the better off Sung Ji to take the first game 12-10. In the second game, Saina looked off colours and Sung Ji did good to capitalize on her opponent's mistake to win the game 11-4.
With the match tied, it was Saina who regained her focus and was class apart in the final game. She won the decider to win her second match of the league as well as maintain her unbeaten run in lucknow.
It looked like after Saina victory, Warriors will make a comeback in the match but HS Prannoy of Rockets won his trump match 14-12, 9-11, 11-8 to make the score 4-1 in his team's favour and put in beyond Warriors' reckoning.
Earlier in the first men's singles tie, Ajay Jayaram of Mumbai Rockets made a great comeback to beat his compatriot Kidambi Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors 5-11, 15-14, 11-5 to help his team take a 2-0 lead in the tie. It was not only Srikanth's first loss in the league but was his first loss against Ajay as well.
In the men's doubles action, lee Yong Dae and Nipitphon Puangpuapech of Rockets beat Markis Kido and V Shem Goh of Warriors.
In the last match Bodin Issara and Savitree Amitrapai of Warriors won their trump match against Nadiedza Zeiba and Nipitphon.