New Delhi: Star mixed doubles team Jwala Gutta and Markis Kido, and little known K. Supanida won their respective ties as the Hyderabad Hunters took a 2-1 lead over the Delhi Acers in the revamped Premier Badminton League Season 2 here on Thursday. Jwala and Markis were hardly troubled by Akshay Dewalkar and Gabrielle Adcock as they won 15-7, 15-8.
Earlier, Supanida put the Hunters one-up with an impressive come-from-behind win over P.C. Thulasi 12-15, 15-9, 15-13. Thulasi brought cheers for the home team by winning the first game but failed to match her opponent in terms of pace and strokes thereafter. Thulasi though showed glimpses of a comeback in the third game, having levelled at 9-9 and 13-13 but faltered at the end.
Supanida said later, “A win in the opening match is always a huge boost for the rest of the players. I am happy I won and from here I hope we gather more points and win the tie.” In the men’s singles, Delhi Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph registered an upset win over World No.15 Parupalli Kashyap 15-9, 15-10 to help Delhi Acers level the scores 1-1. The Ouseph-Kashyap clash was a rematch of the 2010 Commonwealth semi-finals and the former once again emerged the winner.
The England player was hardly troubled in the first game as he led throughout before finishing off in style. In the second, Kashyap came out strong but unforced errors cost him dear. He led 7-4 initially but failed to maintain it as Ouseph extended the margin with his sharp returns. The win brought the home side back into contention. Said Ouseph: “I am delighted with this win as we all know how good Kashyap is. Our team lost the first match and with one more loss it would have been really tough for us to come back. I am happy.”
