Bengaluru: Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong, Ajay Jayaram and Tommy Sugiarto gave Delhi Acers a 4-3 win over the Chennai Smashers on Thursday to become the first team to advance to the Premier Badminton League final.
Koon Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong of Delhi Acers won their first set 15-10 against Chris Adcock/Pranaav Jerry Chopra in the men’s doubles match. However, in a neck-and-neck second set, Koo/Tan rallied from 11-13 to level the score at 13-13. The game eventually went into a sudden death where the Koo/Tan of Delhi Acers prevailed with 15-14.
The Acers’ first men’s singles shuttler Ajay Jayaram then fought back from one set down to give the Delhi-based team a 2-0 lead by taming Sony Dwi Kuncoro 14-15, 15-10, 15-7 in 47 minutes.
With 0-2 behind in the tie, the Chennai Smashers duo, Chris Adcock and Pia Zebadiah kept the hopes alive by winning a one-sided affair against Delhi’s pair of Gabrielle Adcock and Koo Keat Kien 15-9, 15- 14. It’s worth noting that Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock are husband and wife but playing for different team in the league.
World Championship double bronze medalist and captain P.V. Sindhu put the Smashers ahead for the first time in the tie when she thrashed P.C. Thulasi 15-6, 15-7 in what was her Trump Match, giving her team two points. The win resulted in the Smashers leading the tie 3-2.
Tommy Sugiarto of Delhi Acers then picked up where his teammates left off, displaying a lot of firepower to break apart Frenchman Brice Leverdez 15-11, 15-14 in Delhi’s Trump Match to send his team to the PBL final with a final result of 4-3.
