Premier Badminton League: Awadhe Warriors waltz

The Warriors made a resounding start by winning the opening women’s singles match and followed that up with a successful Trump victory for their men’s doubles pair.

Local Hero Parupalli Kashyap was then stunned by B. Sai Praneeth before Hyderabad hit back with two straight wins.

However, by then, it was too little, too late. A Trump victory for former World No.1 Lee Chong Wei — who defeated Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in straight games 15-8, 15-9 — was followed by a come-from-behind win by the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta-Markis Kido, who cut down Bodin Issara and Christinna Pedersen 12-15, 15-14, 15-10.

Some sheen was taken off the encounter when it was announced early on that Hyderabad’s badminton queen Saina Nehwal — playing for Awadhe Warriors — would be sitting the match out. However, her replacement G. Vrushali didn’t let her team down, defeating the Hunters’ Thai player Supanida Katethong in straight games 15-7, 15-11 in 30 minutes.

That was followed by a thrill-a-minute enc-ounter between the Hunters’ Carsten Mogensen-Markis Kido and Bodin Issara-Cai Yun of the Awadhe Warriors. The Warriors won the match 15-10, 15-12 and, under the rules for Trump matches, pocketed two points for the win, taking their tally to three.

Kashyap then lost to Praneeth, who came back from a game down to win in three games 6-15, 15-8, 15-5.