Indian Badminton League, As it happened: Day 8 - Pune Pistons beat Banga Beats 4-1; go second on points-table

In the single encounter on Friday as Bangalore side Banga Beats, lost to Pune Pistons 1-4 in what was an important clash for the side from down South. All the highlights and important plays from the day:

 

Anup Sridhar is the player of the day. Truly deserved his award for beating world no.8 Hu Yun. That sort of set the tone for the day for Pune Pistons and obviously for Banga Beats. (Day in pics)

 

Match 5, mixed doubles: (Day's report)

 

00:10(IST): Carolina Marin/Carsten Morgensen give Banga Beats something to cheer on a poor day for them. The pair beat Pune Pistons' Ashwini Ponnappa/Joachim Fischer Nielsen 20-21, 21-14, 11-8. Pune won the tie 4-1 and are second on the table with 14 points. Hyderabad are the table toppers at 15 points.

 

00:07(IST): In the decider, Marin/Mogensen lead 6-5 against Ponnappa/Nielsen.

 

23:59(IST): Marin/Mogensen take the second game in fine fashion. They were absolutely dominating in their 21-14 game win over Pune's Ponnappa/Nielsen. Last game beckons now. Pune lead the tie though 4-0.

 

23:54(IST): Great fight going on between the sides. Ponnappa/Nielsen (Pune) now trail 11-14 against Marin/Mogensen (Bangalore) in the second game.

 

23:50(IST): Ponnappa/Nielsen trail 6-7 against Marin/Mogensen in the second game.

 

23:42(IST): Ponnappa/Nielsen fightback in the latter half of the first game against Marin/Mogensen. Down for most of the game, they take it close and then hold their nerves to take the first one 21-20.

 

23:34(IST): Ponnappa/Nielsen still trail 10-14 against Marin/Mogensen in the first game.

 

23:28(IST): Marin/Mogensen race into early lead against Ponnappa/Nielsen, score 7-4 after the first break.

 

23:21(IST): Pune Pistons represented by 'local' favourite Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen while Banga Beats' charge led by Carolina Marin and Carsten Mogensen. Pune will look to win this tie 5-0 and thus go top of the table jointly along with Saina Nehwal's Hyderabad Hotshots.

 

Match 4, men's singles:

 

What a remarkable win for Sourabh Varma! 19-21, 21-18, 11-4 - The third game was taken away from P Kashyap in a flash 11-4. Varma gives Pune a 4-0 lead in the tie with the mixed doubles to go. If Pune win the last match, they go joint-top with Hyderabad at 15 points.

 

23:12(IST): Sourabh Varma playing impressively now. Leads 7-3 against Kashyap in the third game, the decider.

 

23:04(IST): Sourabh Varma does the unthinkable and takes the second game 21-18. Kashyap took the first one 21-19. 1-1 in the match now.

 

22:57(IST): Varma maintains his slender lead over the touted opponent in Kashyap. 14-11 now after the second break in the 2nd game.

 

22:50(IST): Spirited fight back from Sourabh Varma, leads Kashyap 7-3 in the second game at the first break.

 

22:42(IST): Varma (world no.36) plays well but fails to overcome the world no.14 Kashyap in first game, goes down 19-21. It became tight late on though. Kashyap let out a roar after the win.

 

22:35(IST): Varma fights hard but Kashyap maintains slender lead after the second break; score now 14-13.

 

????22:28(IST): Parupalli Kashyap takes the early lead at 7-4 against Sourabh Varma.

 

22:25(IST): Now the second men's singles match between Sourabh Verma of Pune Pistons and P. Kashyap of Banga Beats. A dead rubber but important nonetheless in overall context

 

Match 3, men's doubles:

 

22:15(IST): All too easy in the end for Pune team. Joachim Fischer Nielsen/ Kiong Tan Wee beat Carsten Mogensen/ Akshay Dewalkar of Banga Beats 21-18, 21-18. Pune now take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the tie. Next up men's singles second match. Pune also go joint second on the points table with Mumbai Masters too at 13 points. Chance now for Pune to go joint-top.

 

22:11(IST): Bangalore team show some fight. They though still trail the Pune men 12-14 after the second break.

 

22:02(IST): Decent early rallies again and close battle again. Fischer/Tan Wee of Pune just edge Mogensen/Akshay of Bangalore after first break. 7-4 it is right now.

 

21:56(IST): All went neck-to-neck and eventually Carsten Mogensen/ Akshay Dewalkar of Banga Beats lose the first game 18-21 against Joachim Fischer Nielsen/ Kiong Tan Wee of Pune Pistons. Just not what the doctor ordered for Bangalore.

 

21:49(IST): Pune Pistons now take 14-13 lead after the second break. Great badminton anyway.

 

21:44(IST): A cracking first few exchanges after a slow start by the Bangalore pair. Pune boys lead 7-5 though after the first break.

 

21:36(IST): Now, the men's doubles match between Carsten Mogensen/ Akshay Dewalkar of Banga Beats vs Joachim Fischer Nielsen/ Kiong Tan Wee of Pune Pistons. All pressure on the Banga Beats' Mogensen and Akshay as their team trails 2-0.

 

Match 2, women's singles:

 

Pune now lead Bangalore 2-0! Juliane Schenk played comprehensively in the second game to beat the spirited Carolina Marin of Banga Beats 21-20, 21-10.

 

21:24(IST): Banga Beats in trouble it seems as Marin now trails Pune Pistons' Schenk 7-14 after the second break.

 

21:19(IST): Match going neck-to-neck now. Slender early lead for Juliane Schenk in the second game at 7-6 against the much better looking Carolina Marin.

 

21:09(IST): Great badminton to the fore now as Marin tries to fight hard for Banga Beats. A few points on the trot and Marin troubling the experienced Schenk. Juliane Schenk though takes the first game 21-20 in a tight battle.

 

20:59(IST): Semblance of a fightback from Marin but Schenk still maintains the lead after the second break. Score now 14-10 in Schenk's favour.

 

20:51(IST): World no.3 Juliane Schenk races off to a 7-1 lead against her younger, inexperienced Marin (world no.19) at the first break.

 

20:44(IST): Next up Juliane Schenk of Pune Pistons to face Carolina Marin of Banga Beats. Pune lead 1-0 right now after Sridhar's amazing win.

 

Match 1, men's singles:

 

20:41(IST): Sridhar fought back with a flurry of smashes late on even as Yun was threatening to run away with the second game. The Indian, remarkably, takes the match 21-12, 21-18 against the world no.8.

 

20:31(IST): Hu Yun fighting hard and showing some of his class. Sridhar though supremely confident despite all the pressure. Yun maintains a slender lead, 14-12 at the second break. Looking to go down the wire this match.

 

20:22(IST): Intense battle going on in the second game as the world no.8 Hu Yun of Hong Kong takes the early lead, 7-6 after the first break against Pune's world no.129 Anup Sridhar.

 

20:17(IST): Anup Sridhar takes the first game 21-12 for the Pune Pistons against Hu Yun of the Banga Beats. It was a confident thrashing by the Indian.

 

20:11(IST): Sridhar into cruise mode with smashes galore for Pune against Hu Yun of Banga Beats; Leads 14-7 at the second break.

 

20:04(IST): Hu Yun got off to a quick start with an early lead of 4-1 before Anup Sridhar fought back with vengeance to lead 7-5 at the first mini-break in the opening game.

 

20:01(IST): Anup Sridhar of Pune Pistons playing against Hu Yun of Banga Beats in the men's singles match at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Badminton Hall, Balewadi in Pune

19:15(IST): A recap of what happened yesterday:

 

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal shepherded the Hyderabad Hotshots to a comfortable 3-2 victory over Mumbai Masters in the inaugural Indian Badminton League at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi here on Thursday.

Despite a thrilling victory by world number one Lee Chong Wei of Mumbai Masters in the opening match, the Hotshots bounced back with Saina winning her women's singles, followed by triumph of men's doubles combo of V Shem Goh and W L Khim and later men's singles player Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk emerged victorious to seal the tie in Hyderabad's favour. (Read full story of Hyderabad edging Mumbai)

 

Awadhe Warriors won their first tie of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) in style by drubbing Krrish Delhi Smashers 4-1 at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Thursday.

With the victory, the Lucknow-based team bagged five points (four with each match win and a bonus point) to jump to fourth place in the points table while the Smashers are fifth with eight points. (Full story on PV Sindhu's side Awadhe beating Delhi 4-1)

 

BANGA BEATS

Squad: Parupalli Kashyap (Banga Beats), Hu Yun (Hong Kong), Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei), Carolina Marin (Spain), Carsten Mogensen (Denmark), Akshay Dewalkar (India), Aparna Balan (India), Aditya Prakash (India), Arving Bhat (India), J Meghana (India)

Coach: U Vimal Kumar

Icon Player: Parupalli Kashyap

Current Standing: 6th (Last)

Tournament Form Guide: Ties - Win: 1, Loss: 1 / Matches - Win: 6, Loss: 4

Strength: After the singles players lived up the billing against the Warriors, the Beats will be hoping the fire again. The introduction of Carolina Marin, who outplayed PV Sindhu, was a very bold move and the Beats might stick with her in this game as well. P Kashyap too has got back to winning ways.

Weakness: The Beats have still not found a regular mixed-doubles pairing and that is a worry for them. If Marin plays, they might go with a Mogensen-Marin paring which worked well in the previous game.

Player to watch out for: Carolina Marin - A surprise inclusion in the previous game, Marin caused an upset by convincingly beating PV Sindhu. A lot will be expected from her today but playing Schenk won't be an easy task.

PUNE PISTONS

Squad: Juliane Schenk (Germany), Ashwini Ponnappa (India), Tien Minh Nguyen (Vietnam), Wee Kiong Tan (Malaysia), Joachim Fischer Nielsen (Denmark), Sourabh Varma (India), Anup Sridhar (India), Sanave Thomas (India), Arun Vishnu (India), Rupesh Kumar (India)

Coach: Nikhil Kanetkar

Icon Player: Ashwini Ponnappa

Current Standing: 3rd

Tournament Form Guide: Tie - Win: 2, Loss: 1

Match - Win: 7, Loss: 8

Strength: Juliane Schenk continues to be the best bet for the Pistons. Even though Saina beat her in the previous game, she should still be able to beat the other players in the women's fray comfortably. The mixed-doubles pairing of Ashwini/Fischer have won all three of their previous game. The Pistons will be looking to push the tie to the deciding game so that this pair has a chance to win it for them.

Weakness: The Pistons have persisted with Rupesh/Sanave in the team, but they just don't seem to be winning matches. After 3 successive defeats, has to be seen if the management sticks with the pair. Tien Minh Nguyen's form also has been up and down. The Pistons will be hoping he produces a good performance.

Player to watch out for: Sourabh Varma - The young Indian has managed to put up a tough fight with more fancied opponents in all of his previous matches. It is time he starts converting them into wins more consistently.

KEY CLASHES: Carsten Mogensen/Akshay Dewalkar (Banga Beats) v/s Rupesh Kumar/Sanave Thomas (Pune Pistons)

MATCH PREDICTION: Banga Beats to win the tie 3-2

 

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.

Preview

# While Pune Pistons lost out to Hyderabad Hotshots 1-4 in their last match, Banga Beats inflicted the same scoreline on Awadhe Warriors as PV Sindhu was crushed to 21-16, 21-13 defeat by Carolina Marin.

# Currently, the Bangalore side is at the bottom of the table at seven points with 1 win and 1 loss in 2 matches. The Pune team lie third on the table at 9 points with 2 wins and a loss.

# While Banga Beats will look up to Parupalli Kashyap and upcoming star Carolina Marin, it will be Juliane Schenk, Ashwini Ponnappa-Joachim Fischer Nielsen pair, Sourabh Varma and Tien Minh Nyugen who will lead Pune's charge.