Tie: Awadhe Warriors v Delhi Acers
Date: 5 January, Thursday
Time: 9:30pm SGT/7pm IST/1:30pm GMT
Competition: Premier Badminton League, 2017
Venue: Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association Stadium, Mumbai
TV Channel: There is no live TV coverage in Singapore.
Live streaming: Hotstar
Live updates of the matches will be available here.
Overview
Delhi Acers suffered a humiliating defeat to Mumbai Rockets on Tuesday as the defending champions became the first team in Premier Badminton League history to lose with a negative point (6/-1).
Nothing went the Acers way as big stars Jan O Jorgensen and Son Wan Ho failed against lower-ranked Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy, respectively. Notably, the world number two Danish shuttler's loss hurt Delhi the most as it was their Trump game as well.
Russian Men's doubles pairing of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov lost their match in straight games to add to their team's woes. Delhi did not field their out-of-form Women's doubles player Jwala Gutta but Ivanov and young Indian shuttler Maneesha represented them only to lose the match after taking it to decider. Jorgensen's unit would want to quickly get back to winning ways after losing two back-to-back ties.
On the other hand, Awadhe Warriors opened their campaign beating Carolina Marin's Hyderabad Hunters 5-0. The Lucknow-based team's star shuttler Saina Nehwal lost against the reigning Olympic champion in straight games but Hyderabad lost all their other matches, including their Trump match on Monday.
Both their Men's singles players Kidambi Srikanth and Vincent Ki Wong came back from behind to clinch wins against Rajiv Ouseph and Sai Praneeth, respectively.
Lethal Malaysia-Indonesia pair
Awadhe have the top-ranked doubles shuttler Goh V Shem along with Indonesia's Markis Kido in the men's doubles category and the pair came out on top against Hyderabad's Tan Boon Heong and Tan Wee Kiong in the latter team's trump match.
The Warriors are heading into their second tie of the tournament high on confidence and would definitely want to make a mark in their first tie at home. Delhi need to pull up their socks if they are open their account this season.
TV Schedule
India: Star Sports
Team News
Awadhe
Squad: Saina Nehwal, V Shem Goh, Srikanth Kidambi, Savitree Amitrapai, Wong Wing Ki Vincent, Rituparna Das, Bodin Isara, Markis Kido, Prajakta Sawant, Aditya Joshi
Mumbai
Delhi
Squad: Jan o Jorgensen, Son Wan Ho, Jwala Gutta, Nithchaon Jindapol, Ivan Sozonov, Vladimir Ivanov, Akshay Dewalkar, K Maneesha, Akarshi Kashyap, Siril Verma
