Cheni beat Awadhe Warriors

Bengaluru, Jan 12: Cheni Smashers beat Awadhe Warriors 4-3 of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

In the first match of the tie between the teams who already have reached the semi-fils, Vincent Wong Wing Ki beat Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk of Cheni Smashers 6-11, 11-9, 12-10 in the first match to give an early lead for Awadhe.

Cheni soon equalised as British Adcock couple, Chris and Gabrielle extended their unbeaten run in the league with a 11-4, 11-9 win over inexperienced Bodin Issara and Prajakta Sawant.

Parupalli Kashyap won Cheni’s ‘Trump Match’, beating youngster Aditya Joshi 11-7, 5-11, 11-7 to make it 3-1 for the southern outfit.

P.V. Sindhu sealed the tie for Cheni as she gave a nice badminton tutorial to Ritupar Das with a 11-4, 11-6 triumph.

Awadhe’s Sai Nehwal decided not to play this match which would have pitted the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist against the double World Championships bronze medallist. Having already lost the tie, Awadhe maged to win their ‘Trump Match’ as V. Shem Goh and Markis Kido beat Mads Pieler Kolding and B. Sumeeth Reddy 12-10, 11-8 in the men’s doubles match. Despite winning the match, Awadhe lost the tie 3-4.

Despite the win, Awadhe moved to the top of the standings with 21 points from five games, while Cheni remained in the third position with 18 points from five games. IANS