Hyderabad Hunters down Bengaluru Blasters for their maiden PBL title

Hyderabad's Carolina Marin celebrates her win in the PBL final yesterday. Pic/PTI

Team Hyderabad Hunters overcame a fighting Bengaluru Blasters 4-3 in a thrilling summit clash to claim their maiden title at the third Premier Badminton League (PBL) yesterday. Mixed Doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Pia Bernadet put up a dominant display in the last match of the encounter to clinch the title and the winners' prize purse for the Hunters.

Cheered on by a packed house and a vociferous team at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Satwik and Pia beat Kim Sa Rang (Korea) and N Sikki Reddy (India) 15-11, 15-12. The tall Satwiksairaj unleashed an array of powerful strokes to set up a well-deserved victory for the home side. The five-match duel turned out to be a pulsating affair with the Blasters' World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and the Hunters' Olympic champion Carolina Marin winning their respective matches to make it 3-3 after the first four matches.

The Hunters began on the back foot, with their men's doubles pair of Markis Kido and Yoo Yeon Seong losingto Blasters' Mathias Boe and Kim Sa Rang. The Hunters came back into the tie, with their Trump player Lee Hyun Il defeating Subhanker Dey 2-0. Axelsen then demolished Sai Praneeth 15-5, 15-10. Former World No. 1 Marin promptly regained the initiative with a 15-8, 15-14 Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour

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