Chennai: Chennai Superstarz secured a 4-3 victory over Mumbai Rockets in a Premier Badminton League match here on Wednesday to consolidate its position at the top of the table.
Having already won the first game against PV Sindhu led Hyderabad Hunters, the home side entered the tie with confidence and in the first game, which was the mixed doubles, Jessica Pugh partnered for the first time with Dhruv Kapila in the absence of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and the pair drew first blood by defeating the much-fancied Rockets pair of Pia Zebadiah and Kim Gi Jung 15-10, 15-14.
In the second tie, Lakshya Sen met 49th ranked Lee Dong Keun for the first time ever in his career but the World No 30 was on top of his game and defeated him in straight sets 15-12, 15-10 with ease to help Chennaiyin take 2-0 lead.
The next game was a trump match for Chennai as Tommy Sugiarto met Parupalli Kashyap. In a closely fought contest Kahyap clinched the first set 14-15 but Sugiarto came back strong in the next two games and won 15-10.15-7 to seal the game for the home side. Mumbai Rockets then clinched their trump match in the mixed doubles with experienced Korean duo of Gi Jung and
Kim Sa Rang, defeating Sumeeth Reddy and Dhruv Kapila in straight sets 15-9, 15-12.
In the women’s singles, 16-year old Gayatri Gopichand who was playing her second PBL game won a set for the first time against Shreyanshi Pardeshi. The latter despite losing the second set 5-15 gave a tough fight in the final set but in the end, a win eluded her as she was defeated 15-14, 5-15, 13-15.
