BENGALURU: Chennai Smashers and Mumbai Rockets took the last two semifinal slots of the Premier Badminton League at Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
Chennai Smashers (17 points) defeated Bengaluru Top Guns 3-2 to take the third spot behind Delhi Acers (20 points) and Awadhe Warriors (17 points) on the six-team table. Delhi Acers beat Mumbai Rockets but the latter made the grade with 13 points to finish fourth ahead of Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The last named needed at least five points but failed to garner them. Delhi Acers will clash with Chennai Samshers in the first semifinal at the same venue on Thursday. Awadhe Warriors and Mumbai Rockets meet in Hyderabad on January 15.
Top Guns lost the men’s singles with Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro subduing Sameer Verma in the first Trump match. The Indian waged a grim battle with long rallies but Sony held the lead all along. Hoon Thien How and JF Nielse defeated Chris Adcock and Pranaav Chopra 15-7, 15-8 to give Top Guns hope. With Srikanth Kidambi getting the better of Frenchman Brice Leverdez 15-4, 15-12, it looked they might make the cut. But PV Sindhu defeated Suo Di, the world junior champion from Indonesia, to level scores. “She is a talented player and has displayed her skills throughout this event. She gave me a real challenge but I managed to hang on,” said Sindhu.
All eyes were on Ashwini Ponnappa and Deanish partner Joachim F Nielse in the mixed doubles, the Trump match called by Top Guns, as they were pitted against England’s Chris Adcock and Indonesian Pia Zebadiah. But they made far too many unforced errors and lost 14-15, 12-15.
Results: Delhi Acers bt Mumbai Rockets 5-0; Chennai Smashes bt Bengaluru Top Guns 4-1.