Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Hunters woes continued on Sunday, as the team lost its third-straight tie of the season, falling 3-4 to Chennai Smashers spearheaded by P.V Sindhu in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad.
Hunters were off to a sluggish start, with Carsten Mogensen and Jwala Gutta losing 7-15, 7-15 after the England-Indonesia pair Chris Adcock and Pia Zebadiah repeatedly attacked Gutta’s forehand to pick up enough points to clinch the mixed doubles match.
In a tougher than expected encounter, former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei had to battle three-sets to down a spirited Sony Dwi Kuncoro 15-3, 12-15, 15-8.
Lee had an easy 15-3 win in the first game, but the gritty Sony Dwi Kuncoro from Indonesia, gave a stiff resistance and went on to win the second set 15-12. Lee showed the Indonesian a deadly combination of power and precision to eventually walk away with 15-8 win in the third set.
“Kuncoro caught me by surprise with his aggression and quick returns in the second set. Fortunately I was able to keep calm and stick to my game plan to eventually win the match,” said Lee Chong Wei after the match.
Next, Hyderabad’s Commonwealth gold medalist Parupalli Kashyap and Simon Santoso of Chennai Smashers tried to outsmart each other in the second men’s singles match. Unfortunately, Kashyap was disappointed again as he went down to Santoso 12-15, 12-15 in 33 minutes. Hyderabad was trailed 1-2 after Kashyap’s loss.
In the women’s singles match, India’s star shuttler P.V Sindhu managed to push her Hyderabad rival Supanida K to the corners with predominant net-play in the decider to beat the player from Thailand 15-8, 14-15, 15-5, adding two more points to Chennai as she was selected to play the Trump match for her team to give Chennai Smashers an unassailable 4-1 lead.
Carsten Mogensen and Markis Kido then hang on to give Hyderabad a consolation win in the men’s doubles match where they won their team’s Trump match with a 15-12, 15-13 victory over Chris Adcock and Pranav Chopra.
