World No 2 Nehwal notches up a thrilling three-game win in Awadhe Warriors’ trump match to seal it 3-1 over Bengaluru Topguns
Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors on Monday
Lucknow: India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a thrilling three-game win in Awadhe Warriors' trump match to guide her team to a comfortable win over Bengaluru Topguns in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) here yesterday.
Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors on Monday. Pic/PTI
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Mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Kim Wah Lim and men's singles player Sameer verma won their respective matches to give Benguluru a 2-0 lead but Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand notched up a stunning win over Kidambi Srikanth in a Benguluru's Trump match to bring Awadhe Warriors back into the contest at 1-1.
World No 2 Saina then defeated Suo Di of Thailand in their trump match to take an unassailable 3-1 lead over Bengaluru Topguns in the five-match tie.
Starting the proceedings, Ashwini and Kim eked out a thrilling 15-13, 11-15, 15-13 win over Bodin Issara and K Maneesha to start Bengaluru's campaign on a positive note.
Evenly poised
"The match was an absolute thriller and we are happy to win this one. Our opponents came back strongly in the second set and we were trailing in the third set, but we fought brilliantly in the last and opened our account with a win in tonight's tie," Ashwini said after the match.
Sameer then stunned Sai Praneeth 15-13 15-14 in a gruelling men's singles contest to make it 2-0 in Bengululu's favour.
In the second men's singles, Bengaluru placed their faith on Srikanth in their trump match but Tanongsak stunned the World No 9 15-11 15-8 to reduce their lead to 1-1.
At 1-1, Saina took the court for Awadhe Warriors' trump match and the Olympic bronze medallist registered a 15-10, 13-15, 15-8 win over Sou Di to seal it for Warriors.
In the fourth match, Saina took time to get off the mark. She lagged behind initially before drawing parity at 6-6. She moved into the lead at 8-6 at the break.
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