Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto notched up a nail-biting three-game win over two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei in Hyderabad Hunters' 'Trump Match' as Delhi Acers led 2-1 in the Premier Badminton League clash at Siri Fort Stadium here today.
Women's singles player Supanida K of Thailand, mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Markis Kido won their respective matches but Parupalli Kashyap lost his men's singles match when Hyderabad Hunters took 2-1 after three matches of the five-match tie.
However two-time silver medallist Lee Chong Wei then took the court in their Trump match hoping to seal the tie in their favour but Tommy dished out a superb game of badminton to not only beat the Malaysian but also hand Delhi a 2-1 lead with their trump match still to go. This happened as Delhi got +1 from the 'Trump Match' and Hyderbad conceded a negative point.
It was an electrifying atmosphere at the Siri Fort Stadium which hosted the Delhi leg of the lucrative PBL with music blaring out of the speakers, cheer leaders gyrating during the breaks, neon lights flooding the area and the noise touching a crescendo with the handful of spectators vociferously cheering their teams.
Amidst this deafening noise, Supanida started the proceedings for the Hunters on a positive note when she bounced back from a game down to eke out a thrilling 12-15, 15-9, 15-13 win over Delhi's P C Thulasi in the women's singles to give a 1-0 lead to Hyderabad.
After the win Supanida said:"I was down in the first set and I realised my mistakes. A win in the opening match is always a huge boost for the rest of the players. I am happy I won the game."
Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap then locked horns against Delhi Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph but the Indian, who is recovering from a torn calf muscle injury, suffered a 9-15 10-15 loss to The England shuttler as the Acers drew level at 1-1.
"I am delighted with this win as we all know how good Kashyap is. Our team lost the first match and with one more loss it would have been really tough for us. I am happy this win allowed us to level the scores," Rajiv said.
Indo-Indonesian mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Markis Kido then dished out a dominating game to outclass Akshay Dewalkar and Gabrielle Adcock 15-7 15-8 and swell Hyderabad's lead to 2-1.
