Indian Badminton League, Day 11: As it happened - Awadhe Warriors edge Pune Pistons

23:44 (IST): Pune Pistons' duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen beat Marcis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Awadhe Warriors 21-16 21-14 in mixed doubles. Warriors beat Pistons 3-2.

23:38 (IST): Pune Pistons' duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen lead Marcis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Awadhe Warriors 14-8 in the second game.

23:26 (IST): Pune Pistons' duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen take the first set against Marcis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Awadhe Warriors 21-16.

23:23 (IST): "I am very happy that my team qualified for semi-finals after I won the match today. One side of the court was slow and the other one was very fast. I tried keeping the shuttle down all the time so that I can win as many points as possible to win the match," Tien Minh Nyugen said after beating RMV Guru Sai Dutt.

23:21 (IST): Pune Pistons' duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen lead Marcis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Awadhe Warriors 14-12 in the first game.

23:14 (IST): Mixed doubles: Pune Pistons' duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen lead Marcis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Awadhe Warriors 7-5 in the first game.

23:12 (IST): "It was another day at office. I and Kido were leading by 4 or 5 points throughout the match today and had complete control on our game. Also there was no point when we were under pressure," Mathias Boe said after beating Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas of Pune Pistons.

23:08 (IST): Mixed doubles: Pune Pistons' duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen takes on Marcis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Awadhe Warriors.

23:00 (IST): Pune's Nyugen tien Minh beats RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors 21-12 21-18 in the second men's singles. Warriors lead Pune 3-1.

22:51 (IST): Pune's Nyugen tien Minh go 14-10 up against RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors in the second game.

22:44 (IST): World No.5 Nyugen tien Minh maintains 7-5 lead against RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors in the second game.

22:35 (IST): World No.5 Nyugen tien Minh of Pune Pistons wins first game against RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors 21-12.

22:32 (IST): Pune Pistons' Nyugen tien Minh go 14-10 up against RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors in the first game of second men's singles.

22:27 (IST):Pune Pistons' Nyugen tien Minh go 7-5 up against RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors in the first game of second men's singles.

22:24 (IST): Pune Pistons' Nyugen tien Minh is ranked 5th in the world while RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors is ranked 20th.

22:20 (IST): Men's singles: Pune Pistons' Nyugen tien Minh vs RMV Gurusai Dutt of Awadhe Warriors.

22:14 (IST): Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors thrash Pune Pistons pair of Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas 21-15 21-16 in men's doubles.

22:09 (IST): Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors go 14-10 up against Pune Pistons pair of Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas in the second game.

22:06 (IST): "I have played against Schenk twice but this is the first time I won the game and am feeling really happy. Also I am thrilled and touched to see my college friends and teachers who have come here to support me," PV Sindhu after beating Juliane Schenk on Pune Pistons.

22:03 (IST): Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors go 7-1 up against Pune Pistons pair of Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas in the second game.

21:58 (IST): Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors win the first game of men's doubles against Pune Pistons pair of Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas 21-15.

21:53 (IST): Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors take 14-12 lead against Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas of Pune Pistons in the first game.

21:48 (IST): Men's doubles: Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas of Pune Pistons lead Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors 7-6 in the first game.

21:43 (IST): Next-up: Men's doubles - Marcis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors take on Arun Vishnu and Sanave Thomas of Pune Pistons.

21:34 (IST): Awadhe Warriors' PV Sindhu beats Juliane Schenk of Pune Pistons 21-20 21-20 in women's singles. Warriors take 2-0 lead.

21:24 (IST): Juliane Schenk of Pune Pistons leads Awadhe Warriors' PV Sindhu 14-7 in the second game of women's singles.

21:16 (IST): Women's singles: Juliane Schenk of Pune Pistons leads Awadhe Warriors' PV Sindhu 7-5 in the second game.

21:09 (IST): Women's singles: Awadhe Warriors' PV Sindhu takes the first games against Juliane Schenk of Pune Pistons 21-20.

20:59 (IST): Women's singles: Awadhe Warriors' PV Sindhu leads Juliane Schenk of Pune Pistons 14-12 in the first game.

20:40 (IST): K Srikanth beats Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons 21-18 21-16 in first men's singles to give Awadhe Warriors a 1-0 lead.

20:31 (IST): K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors is ranked 38th in the world while Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons is ranked 36th.

20:29 (IST): K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors takes 14-3 lead Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons in the second game.

20:25 (IST): Men's singles: K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors takes 7-1 lead Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons in the second game.

20:19 (IST): Men's singles: K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors fights back to take the first game against Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons 21-18.

20:13 (IST): Men's singles: Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons takes a 14-12 lead against K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors in the first game.

20:05 (IST): Men's singles: Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons takes a 7-2 lead against K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors in the first game.

19:50 (IST): First up: Saurabh Verma of Pune Pistons takes on K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad.

19:13 (IST): Teams -

Awadhe Warriors: P V Sindhu, Weng Fei Chong, RMV Gurusai Dutt, K Srikanth, Sapsiree, Ruthvika Shivani, Marcis Kido, Mathias Boe, K Maneesha and Nanda Gopal.

Pune Pistons: Ashwini Ponnappa, Nyugen tien Minh, Saurabh Verma, Anup Sridhar, Juliane Schenk, Joachim Fischer Nielsen, Sanave Thomas, Arun Vishnu, Wee Kiong Tan and Rupesh Kumar.

Preview

On a high after back-to-back wins, Awadhe Warriors, led by star shuttler P V Sindhu, would look to enhance their semi-final chances when they square off against Pune Pistons in the Indian Badminton League in Hyderabad.

The Warriors remained in contention for a semi-final berth by defeating Mumbai Masters 3-2 in Bangalore on Saturday. They had earlier trounced Delhi Smashers.

The Lucknow-based outfit have 12 points from four ties with two wins and as many losses and need to win their last tie to book a berth in the knockouts.

It will be Sindhu's first match at home in the tournament and she will surely get the backing from a partisan Hyderabad crowd.

The world championships bronze medallist would be high on confidence after prevailing over seasoned Tine Baun in an enticing three-gamer on Saturday.

On the other hand, Pune are on a high having earned 14 points from four ties and is coming off from a 4-1 hammering of Banga Beats at home on Friday.

Led by star Ashwini Ponnappa, the side boasts of players like Nyugen tien Minh, Saurabh Verma, Anup Sridhar, Juliane Schenk, Joachim Fischer Nielsen who can give their rivals a run for their money.

Sridhar would be high on confidence after his upset win over world number eight from Hong Kong Hu Yun (Banga Beats) in the last encounter.


Yesterday's result

# The Delhi Smashers defeated hosts Banga Beats 4-1 to keep their hopes of a semifinal spot alive in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) here on Sunday. (In pic: Delhi Smashers' Jwala Gutta)

# Winning the tie at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium helped the Smashers won five points and are now fourth with 13 in the standings. On the other hand, the Beats lost their third tie in four outings and are last on table with nine points.

# In the first men's singles rubber, Beats' icon player Parupalli Kashyap registered a 21-15, 21-11 victory over B Sai Praneeth od Delhi Samshers to make it 1-0.

# Jindapon Nichaon of the Smashers overcame Carolina Marin of Beats 21-17, 15-21, 11-9. H.S. Prannoy sealed the tie for the Smashers when he defeated former national champion Arvind Bhat 21-18, 7-21, 11-8 in the second men's singles rubber.

# In the mixed doubles match, Delhi's icon player Jwala Gutta came together with her former partner V. Diju to take on Carsten Mogensen and Carolina Marin and won the match in three games to give her team the extra point.


Playing rules

# The standard two-point gap to win a game has been abandoned in favour of a race to 21 points for the first two games and 11 points for the decider, if needed. There will also be a minute's break after the seventh and 14th points in the first two games and after the sixth point in the decider.

# All ties, including the August 31 final in Mumbai, will have five matches -- two men's singles, and one each in women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles.

# Each team, comprising four foreign players, six Indians and one upcoming Indian junior, will play on a home-and-away basis in the preliminary league, with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals.