Raptors ace Pune, in final
Chan Peng Soon and Eom Hye Won led defending champions Bengaluru Raptors to a 4-3 win over Pune Aces in the second semifinal of the Premier Badminton League being played at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The pair of Chan Peng and Eom Hye overcame the British duo of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock in a pulsating 1513, 15-10 mixed doubles match. With this win, Bengaluru make their second consecutive title clash. They are now just one tie away from becoming the first team to win two PBL titles.
Tai Tzu Ying of Bengaluru lived up to her billing of `77 lakh as she maintained her unbeaten run in this year’s league. On Saturday, she defeated Pune’s Rituparna Das 1512, 15-12 in a trump match. Rituparna shocked everyone with her composure while tackling the current World No.2 in her women’s singles match. She went toe-to-toe with the Taiwanese, matching her shot for shot. But in the end, it proved too much for the Indian as the former World No.1 prevailed.
Earlier, in a major upset for the Raptors, B. Sai
Praneeth lost to Kazumasa Sakai, going down in straight games 1115, 13-15. Kazumasa, who had lost just a match in the fifth edition of PBL, took an early lead of 5-1. The local-lad tried to make a comeback but it proved a little too late as the Japanese took the game
15-11.
In the second game too, the World No.73 made a great start as he came out with an aggressive mindset. Praneeth, who was bought for `32L, tried to prove his worth but failed to make an impact, losing
13-15 in a match that lasted
35 minutes.
In the first men’s singles of the evening, Frenchman Brice Leverdez rallied from 6-8 down at the break in his opening game to beat Pune’s Mithun Manjunath
15-14. But Mithun, who was brought for just `1 lakh, punched above his weight to take the second game 15-9 and go level. The `21-lakh worth Brice was up for the challenge as he thumped Mithun 156 in the third, winning the 55-minute long match 2-1.
Earlier in the men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Hendra Setiawan of Pune got the better of Arun George and Rian Agung Saputro, representing Bengaluru 15-12, 15-10 to give Pune an early lead.
The Indo-Indonesian pair of Chirag and Hendra, who have remained undefeated throughout the league, proved their mettle once again as they won their trump match in straight games, giving Pune the upper hand in the match.