Mumbai: World No. 6 and Olympic silver medalist P.V. Sindhu, Chris/Gabriella Adcock and Tommy Sugiarto won their respective matches as Chennai Smashers beat Mumbai Rockets 4-3 to seal their semifinal spot at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) on Tuesday.
Parupalli Kashyap of Chennai Smashers was struggling with the fluency of his shots when he went down to H.S. Prannoy 9-11, 11-13 in the first men’s singles match.
The husband and wife pair – Chris and Gabby Adcock of Chennai Smashers then emerged triumphant over Chirag Shetty and Nadiezda Zieba of Mumbai Rockets 9-11, 11-2, 11-7 as Chennai Smashers grabbed crucial 2 points in their ‘Trump match’.
Chennai Smashers kept their hopes of making to the semi-finals alive after Tommy Sugiarto staved off Ajay Jayaram 8-11, 11-2, 11-5 in the second men’s singles match to extend Chennai Smashers’ lead to 3-1.
The lanky P.V. Sindhu of Chennai Smashers then took to the court to clash with Sung Ji Hyun of Mumbai Rockets. Sindhu covered the court well and her exceptional wrist shots enabling her to generate several killer shots on the net and to take the first set 11-8. Sindhu and Sung were engaging in a marathon 44-shots rally early in the second set before Sindhu smashing her way to win the second set 12-10.
Mumbai Rockets’ Lee Yong Dae and Nipitphon Puangpuapech then managed to upstage Chris Adcock/Mads Pieler Kolding in the Rockets’ ‘Trump match’ to end the tie.
