An icon player, a star in the making and a talent par excellence. India’s latest badminton sensation P.V. Sindhu, unfazed by her team-mates’ mauling in the opening tie, cancelled out Mumbai Masters’ lead over Awadhe Warriors with a convincing win over Dane Tine Baun in the women’s singles encounter, here on Thursday.
In the Indian Badminton League’s second semi-finals encounter, who has been in prime form ran through the recently retired All-England champion’s challenge with a 21-16, 21-13 win to keep her team in contention for a final berth against Hyderabad Hotshots.
With Sindhu in sizzling form, her 34-year-old opponent’s ageing legs failed to match strides on the court. Sindhu, like her previous encounter used the forehand flick skillfully to add to Baun’s struggles.
Lee wins opener
When you play an icon of Lee Chong Wei’s caliber, you either play out of your skin to try and make a match of it, or learn from the legend. In the opening tie, R.M.V Guru Sai Dutt was handed express shuttle classes by the world no. 1 who whipped the Hyderabad youngster 21-15, 21-7 to hand his team the opening advantage.
The match barely rose above mediocrity as the Warriors’ shuttler struggled to find answers to the 30-year-old’s deceptive game plan.
Lee effectively used a combination of drop shots and dribbles to wear out Dutt. In fact initially the points which went in Dutt’s favour were from Lee’s errors at the net. Dutt did show a spark of resistance with a few smashes, but that was about the only thing he offered in the fight.
The second game was a stroll in the park for Lee as it looked like Dutt’s will to battle his opponent had died. Lee raced away to a 19-6 lead and at 20-6 when Lee looked to be in a hurry to finish the proceedings, Dutt delayed the inevitable, before bowing out 21-7.
On Wednesday. hosts Hyderabad Hotshots whitewashed the Pune Pistons 3-0 to surge into the final.