Indian Badminton League final: As it happened - Hyderabad Hotshots lift inaugural title
Saina Nehwal, Ajay Jayaram and men's doubles pair of V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim help Hyderabad Hotshots beat Awadhe Warriors 3-1 to take the inaugural title.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: September 01, 2013 12:33 AM IST
23:34 (IST): Ajay Jayaram beats RMV Gurusaidutt 10-21 21-17 11-7 to help Hyderabad Hotshots win the inaugural title. (In pic: Mumbai Masters owner Sunil Gavaskar)
23:27 (IST): Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots takes 6-5 lead against RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors in decider.
23:19 (IST): Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots fights back to win the second set 21-17 against RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors.
23:11 (IST): RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors takes 14-10 lead in the second game against Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots.
23:04 (IST): RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors takes 7-4 lead in the second game against Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots.
22:57 (IST): RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors takes the first game against Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots 21-10.
22:51 (IST): RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors takes 14-6 lead against Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots in the first game.
22:46 (IST): RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors takes 7-4 lead against Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots in the first game.
22:34 (IST): It will be Ajay Jayaram of Hyderabad Hotshots versus RMV Gurusaidutt of Awadhe Warriors in the second men's singles. Awadhe need to win this tie to stay in contention for championship.
22:29 (IST): V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim beat Markis Kido and Mathias Boe 21-14 13-21 11-4 to give Hyderabad Hotshots 2-1 lead.
22:24 (IST): V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots take 6-2 lead Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors in the third game.
22:19 (IST):Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors beat V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots 21-13 to take the tie to the decider.
22:13 (IST): Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors maintain lead in the second game as they go 14-9 up in the against V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots.
22:09 (IST): Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors fight back in the second game to take 7-4 lead against V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots.
22:01 (IST): V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots take the first game against Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors 21-14 in men's doubles.
21:56 (IST): V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots take 14-8 lead vs Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors in men's doubles.
21:50 (IST): Men's doubles: V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots take 7-2 lead vs Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors.
21:47 (IST): Men's doubles: V Shem Goh and Khim Wah Lim of Hyderabad Hotshots take on Markis Kido and Mathias Boe of Awadhe Warriors.
21:40 (IST): I thank my fans. I am very happy with the way I played this tournament: Saina after beating Sindhu in women's singles.
21:36 (IST): Saina Nehwal beats PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors 21-15 21-7 to put Hyderabad Hotshots on level terms.
21:30 (IST): Saina Nehwal of Hyderabad Hotshots goes 14-6 up in the second game against PV Sindhu.
21:27 (IST): Saina Nehwal of Hyderabad Hotshots takes 10-3 lead in the second game against PV Sindhu.
21:24 (IST): Saina Nehwal of Hyderabad Hotshots takes 7-2 lead in the second game against PV Sindhu.
21:18 (IST): Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina Nehwal takes first game against PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors 21-15.
21:11 (IST): Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina Nehwal leads PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors 14-9 in the first game of women's singles.
21:08 (IST): Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina Nehwal maintains lead as she goes up 10-7 against PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors in the first game of women's singles.
21:04 (IST): Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina Nehwal takes 7-3 lead against PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors in the first game of women's singles.
20:59 (IST): In their previous meeting in the tournament, world number 4 Saina got better of world number 10 Sindhu.
20:56 (IST): Women's singles: Saina Nehwal of Hyderabad Hotshots vs PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors.
20:50 (IST): K Srikanth stuns S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots 21-12 21-20 in first men's singles to give Awadhe Warriors a 1-0 lead.
20:38 (IST):K Srikanth takes 14-8 lead against S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots in the second game.
20:33 (IST): K Srikanth continues to dominate as he takes 7-2 lead against S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots in the second game.
20:27 (IST):K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors takes the first game 21-12 against S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots in men's singles.
20:21 (IST): K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors goes 14-10 up in the first game against S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots in men's singles.
20:15 (IST): K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors takes 7-5 lead against S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots in the first men's singles.
20:00 (IST): S Tanongsak of Thailand is ranked 19th in the world while India's K Srikanth is world number 38.
19:51 (IST): First up: It's S Tanongsak of Hyderabad Hotshots versus K Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors in men's singles at Sardar Vallabh Patel Stadium, NSCI, Mumbai.
19:35 (IST): TEAMS -
Hyderabad Hotshots: Saina Nehwal (India), Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia), Ajay Jayaram (India), V Shem Goh (Malaysia), Tarun Kona (India), Pradnya Gadre (India), Khim Wah Lim (Malaysia), Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Thailand), Kanthi Visalakshi (India), Subhankar Dey (India). Coach: Rajendra Kumar J.
Awadhe Warriors: PV Sindhu (India), Wei Feng Chong (Malaysia), Gurusaidutt (India), K Srikanth (India), Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Thailand), G Ruthvika Shivani (India), Markis Kido (Indonesia), Mathias Boe (Denmark), K Maneesha (India), Nandagopal K (India). Coach: Hafiz Hashim.
19:15 (IST): Hyderabad Hotshots - Tie: 6 matches; Wins: 4; Losses: 2. Hyderabad finished top of the table with 17 points.
Awadhe Warriors - Ties: 6 matches; Wins: 4, Losses: 2. Awadhe finished second on the table with 16 points.
19:00 (IST): Hyderabad Hotshots men's singles player Ajay Jayaram says he needs to work on his consistency to reach his target of breaking into the top 15 this year. He stunned world number 5 Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen twice in the ongoing IBL.
"I have beaten the world number five twice here and even in the recent past I have beaten a few top 10 players. Definitely, this will boost my confidence quite a lot," said Ajay, who is currently ranked 24 in the world.
"I have to change the giant killer kind of tag by consistently beating them in the coming tournaments and playing the quarters and semis consistently. That is the positive I take from this tournament. I aim to break into the top 15 by the end of this year," he added. (Read more)
Preview
Spearheaded by women's world no. 4 Saina Nehwal, Hyderabad Hotshots would be determined to stamp their authority once again on the world no. 10 Pusarla Venkata Sindhu-led Awadhe Warriors in what promises to be a rip-roaring Indian Badminton League final in Mumbai today.
Not only reputations and the overall championship are at stake, but also a big prize money in the USD 1 million league that reaches its climax at the NSCI's newly built air-conditioned indoor stadium.
Hotshots have relied a lot on their icon player Saina's show and the shuttle queen has not disappointed so far, winning all her six singles matches thus far.
The crowd would be eagerly looking forward to the second match in the finale between Saina and her challenger Sindhu, the icon for her team.
The 19-year-old Sindhu paved the way for Warriors' entry into the final by winning her match on Thursday in the semifinal against Mumbai Masters' top woman player and three-time All-England champion Tine Baun in Bangalore.
In their first encounter of the tournament, on the Independence Day in the Capital, Saina blew her Hyderabad city rival and World Badminton Championship bronze medal winner Sindhu off the court with a thumping 21-9 21-8 victory.
Performance in semi-finals
Hyderabad Hotshots: # Hyderabad Hotshots stormed into the final with a 3-0 win in the first semi-finals against Pune Pistons at the GMC Balayogi indoor stadium at home on Wednesday. (Highlights)
# Star shuttler and Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina Nehwal beat Pune's Juliane Schenk 21-10, 19-21, 11-8 in the women's singles while Ajay Jayaram defeated Tien Minh Nyugen 21-17, 21-11.
# Hotshots' pair of Goh V Shem and Wah Lim Khim them emerged victorious in the doubles event against Pune's Joachim Fischer and Sanave Thomas to take their team into the final. They won 16-21, 21-14, 11-7.
Awadhe Warriors: # Riding on PV Sindhu's sensational win over All-England champion Tine Baun and excellent performances by their doubles teams, Awadhe Warriors entered the Indian Badminton League final on Thursday as they edged past Mumbai Masters 3-2 in a nail-biting semi-final in Bangalore. (Highlights)
# The contest between the two teams remained close till the fourth match of the tie, but the mixed doubles pair of Markis Kido-Pia Bernadeth of Warriors finally brought the cheers as they defeated Masters' Ivanov Vladimir and Baun 21-19 21-15 in the decider.
# Earlier, Sindhu once again played a stellar role to bring her team back into contention following Master's icon player Lee Chong Wei's 21-15 21-7 victory over Gurusai Dutt in the first match of the tie.
# After Sindhu brought Warriors on a par with Masters 1-1, it was left to her team's Markis Kido and Mathias Boe to take a lead over their opponents, which they did in style.
# The combo made Masters' pair Sumeet Reddy and Pranav Jerry Chopra eat humble pie at 21-15 21-10.
# However, Ivanov levelled the tie at 2-2 against K Srikanth with his famous strokes mesmerising the fans as he pulled off a 21-20 21-19 win in a close match.
# In the decider, Ivanov once again was seen in action playing the mixed doubles along with Baun against Kido and his sister Pia Bernadeth.