Saina Nehwal shepherded the Hyderabad Hotshots to a comfortable 3-2 victory over the Mumbai Masters in the Indian Badminton League at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi here on Thursday. Having registered three wins from four outings, the Hotshots are now at the top of the table with 15 points.
Despite a thrilling win by men’s world no. 1 Lee Chong Wei for Mumbai Masters in the opening match, Hotshots bounced back with Saina winning her women’s singles. Following Saina’s match, a win in the men’s doubles by V. Shem Goh and W.L. Khim and later in the men’s singles (Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk) sealed the tie in Hyderabad’s favour.
Mumbai, however, managed to reduce the margin with Vladimir Ivanov and Sikki Reddy beating Tarun Kona and Pradyna Gadre 21-18, 21-19 in the mixed doubles match.
Two-time silver medallist at the Olympics, Lee opened the account for Mumbai Masters with a thrilling 21-19, 11-21, 11-5 win over Ajay Jayaram in the first men’s singles which lasted 47 minutes.
However, world no. 4 Saina thrashed P.C. Thulasi 21-7, 21-10 in 28 minutes to bring Hyderabad’s campaign back on track. Goh and Khim then took the court against B.S. Reddy and Manu Attri of Mumbai in the men’s doubles match and gave the Hotshots a 2-1 lead with a 11-21, 21-16, 11-9 win.
The onus was now on Marc Zweibler of Germany to bring Mumbai back into the contest, but the world no. 12 was stunned 21-19, 17-21, 11-6 by the Thai star to give Hyderabad an unassailable 3-1 lead.