IBL: Delhi Smashers beat Hyderabad Hotshots 3-2
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The
Smashers rode on the strong performance by their men's and mixed double
teams to register their first victory in the tournament.
After
being locked 2-2, it was their mixed doubles pair of V Diju and
Prajakta Sawant who finally took Delhi home after they defeated
Hyderabad's V Shem Goh and Pradnya Gadre in the last match of the tie.
Earlier,
Sai Praneeth of Smashers suffered a 21-19 19-21 7-11 defeat to Thai
player S Tanongsak in the first men's singles to allow Hyderabad a 1-0
lead.
The
second game was played between ace shuttler Saina Nehwal of Hyderabad
and Arundhati Pantawane of Delhi. Though Arundhati initially troubled
Saina, but with her powerful smashes, the London Olympics bronze
medallist won the game 21-6.
Saina continued her dominance in the second game and defeated Arundhati 21-8 to give Hyderabad a 2-0 lead.
However,
world number two Malaysian pair of Boon Heong Tan and Kien Keat Koo
kept Delhi's hopes alive when they defeated V Shem Goh and Kona Tarun of
Hyderabad 21-14 21-10 to reduce the lead by 1-2.
The
fourth match was played between Taufik Hidayat and Malaysian Darren
Liew, but the former World and Olympic champion was off colour and lost
10-21 7-21 as Delhi bounced back into the contest, making it 2-2.
Making
a good start, Darren maintained the momentum throughout the match. He
displayed a good performance in the second game too and dominated the
proceedings with his strong smashes.
Diju and Prajakta then took the court against V Shem Goh and Pradnya Gadre.
The
Hyderabadi players, which won the decisive game against Awadh Warriors
in the last outing, failed to recreate their magic and lost the first
game by 21-20.
In the second game, Smashers maintained their dominance and won by 21-15 to bring cheers to the Delhi camp.
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