PBL: Marin win clinches the tie for Hunters

After losing the first game, Carolina Marin bounced back to defeat Ashwini Ponnappa in the deciding tie to clinch the win for Hyderabad Hunters over host Bengaluru Blasters.

Published : Jan 08, 2017 00:50 IST , Bengaluru

Carolina Marin, with her typical aggressive play, defeated Ashwini Ponnappa in three games.
Carolina Marin, with her typical aggressive play, defeated Ashwini Ponnappa in three games.
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Carolina Marin, with her typical aggressive play, defeated Ashwini Ponnappa in three games.

Rio Olympics gold medallist Carolina Marin won her trump game after some anxious moments against Ashwini Ponnappa as Hyderabad Hunters defeated Bengaluru Smashers 4-3 in the Premier Badminton League contest on Saturday.

Marin defeated Ponnappa 9-11, 11-5, 11-8 in the deciding match of the tie. With this win, Hyderabad moves to third in the points table.

Though Ponnappa clinched the first game, she could not sustain Marin as she powered her way back to win the tie for her team. Ponnappa was no match for the Spaniard’s aggression as she committed far too many errors in next two games.

The spectators were surprised to have seen Ponnappa playing the singles match against the much seasoned Marin. The Bengaluru girl is known for her exploits in doubles.

Earlier, after losing the first game, Bengaluru mixed doubles players — Ko Sung Hyun and Sikki Reddy — drew level 1-1 against Marin and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy with a dominating 11-9, 11-7 win.

World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen won the crucial trump match 11-5, 11-6 against Sai Praneeth of Hyderabad to help Bengaluru to take a 2-1 lead. But men's doubles pair Tan Boon and Tan Wee levelled it for Hyderabad with a 11-5, 11-8 win.

However, Bengaluru started badly, with Boonsak Ponsana losing the first tie 8-11 7-11 to Sameer Verma.

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