PBL: Blasters hopeful of bouncing back

Bengaluru Blasters and Hyderabad Hunters suffered losses in their respective previous outing. But both teams are hopeful of rebounding when they clash at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru Blasters players practice ahead of their match against Hyderabad Hunters at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru.

Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen will be the cynosure of all eyes, when Bengaluru Blasters hosts Hyderabad Hunters in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) here on Saturday.

The spectators at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium can expect fireworks from Rio Olympics gold medal winner Carolina (Hyderabad Hunters) and Rio bronze medallist Axelsen (Bengaluru Blasters). Ashwini Ponnappa will be seen in action in the mixed doubles affair.

Bengaluru is coming off a 0-5 loss to Chennai Smashers, but coach Arvind Bhat saw the hiccup in different light. "We had two match points against Chennai, but we could not close it out. I've told the players that we should consider the Chennai tie as a victory. We will enter the court with a totally positive attitude," Bhat explained.

The visitor suffered a setback in its previous outing as well. The unit was edged out 1-2 by Mumbai Rockets. After notching up two wins to open her PBL campaign on a high, Carolina went down to Mumbai’s Sung Ji Hyun.

Both sides are yet to hit full throttle. While Bengaluru has four points from two ties, Hyderabad has gained five points from three.