Awadhe Warriors shock defending champions

Awadhe won both their men’s singles and mixed doubles to take an ussailable 3-0 lead (4-0 on points) in the five-match duel. World No 3 Kidambi Srikanth downed Frenchman Brice Leverdez 15-12, 15-14 to build upon the successes of Parupalli Kashyap and the mixed doubles pair of Christin Pedersen and Tang Chun Man earllier.

The resilient Frenchman stretched Srikanth in both the games but the Indian closed out the second via sudden death after they were tied 14-all.

Kashyap won his singles against Daniel S Farid 15-12, 15-8 to give them an additiol advantage as Awadhe had ticked this encounter as their Trump Match. The victory gave them two points as against the usual one point for a win.

Earlier, Christin and Tang provided an ideal start to Awadhe’s campaign by shocking fancied English couple Chris and Gabrielle Adcock 10-15, 15-5, 15-12. The world No 9 Adcocks started off well by pocketing the first game but the Danish girl Christin and Hong Kong’s Tang fought back brilliantly to turn the tables on the English pair.