Premier Badminton League: Mumbai Rockets, Delhi Acers in battle for supremacy

New Delhi: The revamped edition of the Premier Badminton League has reached its climax with the rampaging Delhi Acers set to clash with Mumbai Rockets for the title at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Sunday.

With home advantage, the Acers — who won all their previous matches at home — are expected to have an edge over the Rockets. The Acers, who overcame Chennai Smas-hers 4-3 to make the summit clash, also finished the league stage as table toppers.

However, Mumbai cannot be ruled out after Friday’s stunning victory over the Saina Nehwal-led Awadhe Warriors 3-0 in the second semi-final.

In their previous meeting, Delhi thrashed Mumbai 5-0 in a league game in Bengaluru.

But with the new Trump match rule changing the fortunes of teams frequently, past results will count for little and every tie will be important.

Acers’ men’s singles player Ajay Jayaram, who had a good run at the event, felt that choosing the Trump game would be tricky.

Jayaram said: “It’s going to be a tough match tomorrow. Both teams have done extremely well to reach this phase. But we are quite confident, after four straight wins including one against Mumbai.

“Choosing the Trump game will be tricky as always but we have done well with placing our bets. So hopefully everything turns out well,” the 28-year-old said, adding the “men’s doubles tie will be crucial”.

In the men’s singles, Delhi will bank on Indonesian world no. 11 Tommy Sugiarto and Britain’s Rajiv Ouseph while the women’s charge will be led by P.C. Thulasi.

Mumbai will once again look to the experienced pairs of Vladimir Ivanov and Kamilla Juhl, and Mathias Boe and Ivanov to pull of the doubles ties.

Having stunned Saina on Friday, China’s Han Li is expected to play Mumbai’s Trump game.