Chennai Smashers take early lead


Chennai Smashers got off to a flying start in the finals of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League Season 2, powered by Maruti Suzuki as their mixed doubles pair of Gabrielle Adcock/Chris Adcock won their trump match against Nipitphon Puangpuapech/Nadiedza Zeiba at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium here today.

Chennai smashers pair in action during finals of PBL-2

Chennai smashers pair in action during finals of PBL-2

 

The win saw the Chennai side grab an early 2-0 lead over Mumbai.

 

The match started on a pulsating note with both the teams looking pumped and engaged in a fierce battle to assert early dominance.

 

It was a clash of equals and it was a neck to neck duel with both the teams giving good account for themselves in the initial moments of the match. It was the Adcock couple who finally managed to seize the momentum and went into the mid-game game leading 6-5. After the break, they kept on the good run and finally won the game 11-9.

 

In the second game, the duo of Zeiba and Nipitphon started on the aggressive note and were leading 6-4 at the interval. But Gabrielle and Chris bounced back in style and took seven straight points in no time to seal the game and the match 11-6 to earn two points for their team.

 

In the second match of the day, it will be PV Sindhu of Smashers taking on Sung Ji Hyun of Mumbai, followed by men’s doubles action between Chris Adcock/Mads Pieler Kolding of Smashers and Nipitphon Puangpuapech/Lee Yong Dae of Mumbai, a trump match for the latter. Parupalli Kashyap of Smashers will be up against H.S Prannoy of Rockets in the first men’s singles of the tie, while the final match of the tie would see Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk of Smashers go head to head against Ajay Jayaram of Mumbai.

 

PBL Facts:

Teams: 6

Cities: Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore,Lucknow,Hyderabad,Chennai

Venues: Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore,Lucknow,Hyderabad

Dates: January 1-14 ’2017

Broadcast Partner: Star sports – HD 1 & 3 and SS1 & 3

Ticketing Partner: Book My Show

Format: Best of 3 sets with 11 point sets

No of matches in each Tie: 5

Prize money: 6 cr – winner – 3cr, runner up -1.5cr, 3rd and 4th place finish – 75 lakhs each.