North East race into PBL final
The dream run of the North Eastern Warriors continued as they made it to their maiden Premier Badminton League final, defeating Chennai Superstarz (3 to -1) in the fifth season being played at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
The Indo-Thailand pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Bodin Isara playing for the Warriors, defeated the Indian duo of B. Sumeeth Reddy and Dhruv Kapila 15-13, 14-15,
15-10 in their men’s double match to help the Warriors slay 2017 champions Chennai.
Krishna and Bodin added insult to the injury as they won Chennai’s trump match.
Earlier, Lee Cheuk Yiu got the Warriors off to a good start as he beat Tommy Sugiarto of the Chennai Superstarz in the men’s singles. Yiu got the better of Sugiarto 1512, 15-12, handing him his first defeat of the league.
The World No.18 made a strong statement by winning the first four points of the opening game to put the Indonesian on the backfoot. Sugiarto stole three quick points to make it 4-5. Both Yiu and Sugiarto traded shots in an exciting encounter before the Hong Kong player taking the first game 15-12.
Not once in a match, that lasted 27 minutes, did the World No.21 manage to get a lead over Yiu, losing the second game too with an identical scoreline of 12-15.
Earlier, in the opening match, the South Korean pair of Lee Yong Dae and Kim Ha Na, representing the league-stage toppers Warriors got the better of B. Sumeeth Reddy and Jessica Pugh of the Superstarz.
In a topsy-turvy rubber,
Dae and Na won the first game 15-12. But the IndoBrit pair of Reddy and Pugh were not going down without a fight. They took the second game 15-9 to make it one game apiece. In the decider, both teams continued to draw a point each until the scores read 14-14. With all to play for, the South Koreans held onto their nerves to win the final point and sealed the match 15-14 in favour of the Warriors.